Analysing biological samples enables us to objectively evaluate biomarkers that act as an indicator of a person’s health. Biomarkers can also provide an early indication of disease before symptoms arise, provide us with information on disease progression and/or suggest therapies. In NICOLA, non-fasting venous blood samples were obtained from consenting participants. These included blood serum, plasma (EDTA/clot activator), glucose (potassium oxalate/sodium fluoride) and RNA (PAXgene). A spot urine sample was also obtained from all participants. All biological samples were transported in temperature controlled containers to a central laboratory and processed within 4 h. Aliquoted samples were subsequently frozen at − 80 °C until analysis. A dedicated courier service was used for transporting samples collected at the home-based assessments. As described previously, detailed laboratory analysis was conducted on all of the samples which included multi-omic biomarkers, lipid profiling, dietary biomarkers, inflammatory biomarkers and hormones [3 ]. All laboratory assays were standardised against available international standards, and quality control samples were included in every run. Participants consented separately for the collection of blood, DNA, urine, retinal images, facial photograph and the administration of the eye drops including consent for analysis, storage and future contact. Data are currently available for 28 biochemical biomarkers from 3082 participants within the NICOLA cohort. Participants were also offered rapid testing and feedback from blood glucose and lipid levels. NICOLA has a strong focus on molecular biomarkers and complementary genetic, epigenetic and transcriptomic data is available for a subset of participants. There is also 551,830 directly genotyped and 18,148,478 imputed SNPs currently available for 2969 participants.
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