Garvan Institute of Medical Research launched the Medical Genome Reference Bank, the world’s largest publicly available ‘genome bank’ specifically of healthy older people, an initiative of Garvan’s Kinghorn Centre for Clinical Genomics and NSW Health. Because it includes only the genomes of individuals over the age of 70 who have no history of major disease (cardiovascular disease, neurodegenerative disease or cancer), the Reference Bank is expected to be relatively free of genetic variants associated with disease – making it a powerful filter, or ‘control’, for accelerating genomic discovery in medical research. In addition, it will aid in the diagnosis of genetic disease and may shed light on mechanisms of healthy aging.

To make data requests, you may undertake an approval process by contacting Paul Lacaze on Paul.Lacaze@monash.edu

ASPREE (ASPirin in Reducing Events in the Elderly) was a joint US/Australian randomized clinical trial aiming to determine whether low-dose aspirin increases healthy life-span, defined as survival free of dementia and disability. ASPREE began in 2010 and completed recruitment in 2014. It was a randomized, double-blind, placebo controlled, primary prevention trial of daily 100 mg of aspirin in older people free of cardiovascular disease, dementia and physical disability in the United States (US) and Australia with a period of follow-up averaging 4.5 years. ASPREE's primary outcome was duration of survival free of dementia and persistent physical disability and had secondary outcomes encompassing the major health issues related to aging. The trial involving 19,114 persons aged 70 and above (65 years and above for US minorities) is distinctive for its large size, methodological rigor and high participant retention rate in both countries. ASPREE-XT is a post-treatment, longitudinal observational follow-up study of ASPREE participants that began in January 2018. This enables the monitoring of possible legacy effects of aspirin treatment, primarily on cancer incidence, metastases and mortality. In addition, the large well-characterized cohort with extended follow-up and a range of health outcomes provides a unique opportunity to study health and resilience in older individuals.

ASPirin in Reducing Events in the Elderly (ASPREE), a placebo-controlled prevention trial of low dose aspirin, provided the opportunity to establish a biospecimen biobank from initially healthy persons aged 70+ years for future research. The ASPREE Healthy Ageing Biobank (ASPREE Biobank) collected, processed and stored blood and urine samples at -80degC or under nitrogen vapour at two timepoints, three years apart, from a willing subset of Australian ASPREE participants. Written informed consent included separate opt-in questions for biomarker and genetic testing. Fractionated blood and urine were aliquoted into multiple low-volume, barcoded cryotubes for frozen storage within 4 hours of collection. Specially designed and outfitted mobile laboratories provided opportunities for participation by people in regional and rural areas. Detailed, high quality demographic, physiological and clinical data were collected annually through the ASPREE trial. 12,219 participants contributed blood/urine at the first timepoint, 10,617 of these older adults provided 3-year follow-up samples, and an additional 1,712 provided saliva for DNA. The mean participant age was 74 years, 54% were female and 46% lived outside major cities. Despite geographical and logistical challenges, nearly 100% of blood/urine specimens were processed and frozen within 4 hours of collection into >1.4 million aliquots. After a median of 4.7 years, major clinical events among ASPREE Biobank participants included 332 with dementia, 613 with cardiovascular disease events, 1259 with cancer, 357 with major bleeds and 615 had died. The ASPREE Biobank houses and curates a large number of biospecimens collected prior to the clinical manifestations of major disease, and 3-year follow-up samples, all linked to high quality, extensive phenotypic information. This provides the opportunity to identify or validate diagnostic, prognostic and predictive biomarkers, and potentially study biological effectors, of ageing-related diseases or maintenance of older-age good health.