Over the past 25 years HUNT has collected phenotypic, lifestyle, genetic, and environmental data from the population of Norway’s Nord Trøndelag region.

Biomarker discovery and validation company HUNT Biosciences signed a collaboration with Scotland-based Tissue Solutions, which provides biological samples for the pharma and diagnostics industries. The partnership aims to promote the HUNT Study and its associated biobank.

Over the last 25 years the HUNT Study has collected blood samples and associated phenotypic, lifestyle, genetic, and environmental data from the population of Norway’s Nord Trøndelag region. As part of the CONOR (Cohort of Norway) project, The Hunt Study involves a regional cohort of over 100,000 individuals and comprises over 3,000 clinical variables. The resource is a satellite of the Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU) in Trondheim and is sited at  the new National Biobank.

“We believe that the unique combination of biomedical and phenotypic information that has been collected over the past 25 years from a general population rather than a specific disease cohort can help accelerate biomarker discovery and validation,” comments Per Foss, HUNT CEO. “Already, HUNT samples are widely used in academic research, and through this collaboration with Tissue Solutions we aim to significantly increase our pharma and diagnostic industry customer base.”

HUNT Biosciences has held an exclusive commercial license to the population biobank material collected by the NTNU since 1984. The company is owned by NTNU, the Central Norway Regional Health Authority, and the North Trøndelag County.

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