Scientists expect to gain unprecedented insights into human ageing and the earliest signs of disease after scanning 100,000 people from head to toe in the world’s largest whole body imaging project.
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“Researchers now have an incredible window into the body,” said Naomi Allen, the chief scientist at UK Biobank. “For the first time, researchers can study how we age and how diseases develop in stunning detail and at a massive scale.”
“We hope that the findings … will change the way the world detects and treats disease before people get sick,” she added.
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The imaging project captured 12,000 images from each volunteer, revealing the size, shape and structure of the brain, bones, heart and other organs, along with bone density and body fat. Ultrasound scans on arteries in the neck looked for blockages or narrowing that raise the risk of stroke.
Paul Matthews, the chair of the UK Biobank imaging group … said the scans were so detailed that scientists could spot people at higher risk of dementia from changes that were previously invisible.
