Generation Scotland

Generation Scotland (GS) is a population and family based study of the genetic and environmental determinants of health. There are ~24,000 participants in ~7,000 family groups recruited in Scotland in three phases (2006-2011). For the core study of 24,000, participants answered questions on medical history, lifestyle and habits and attended a clinic research facility where anthropometric and clinical measures were made.  Participants gave broad consent for genetic studies; linkage to their NHS electronic health records, past, present and future; recontact for optional follow-on studies, questionnaires and sample collection; and to allow both academic and commercial research. NHS Scotland Research Ethics approval was given to establish a dedicated Tissue Bank of biological samples of blood, serum, plasma and urine. Data and samples are available for health-related research. Access to GS resources is co-ordinated by a dedicated management team and is overseen by the GS Access Committee. Further information is available at www.generationscotland.org.

This gateway hosts articles associated with Generation Scotland that have been published on Wellcome Open Research.
 
Collection Advisors
 
Professor David Porteous, Centre for Genomic and Experimental Medicine, Institute of Genetics and Molecular Medicine, University of Edinburgh
 
Professor Porteous conceived (1997), initiated (1999), established the scope and governance (2001-2003) and has led or co-led the three phases of recruitment to Generation Scotland (2003-2011). He chairs the GS Executive and Access Committee.  His research expertise covers monogenic and complex genetics, epigenetics and genomics, systems biology and translational research, including gene therapy. He has a long-standing interest and track record in psychiatric genetics. He is actively involved in public engagement and participatory research. He is a member of UK Biobank and the Aberdeen Children of the Nineteen Fifties (ACONF) population health cohorts. He was awarded the OBE for contributions to science in 2013.
 
Professor Caroline Hayward, MRC Human Genetics Unit, Institute of Genetics and Molecular Medicine, University of Edinburgh
Caroline chairs the genetic annotation expert working group for GS. She is Principal Investigator and co-ordinator of the QTL in Health and Disease research programme. Over the last 10 years she has been responsible for managing many aspects of the collection and analysis of quantitative trait data from isolated and general Croatian populations. More recently this project has expanded to include analyses of further Croatian and Scottish populations. Her main interests are in the genetics of quantitative traits in human populations especially those likely to be involved in clinically significant complex diseases.
Professor Andrew McIntosh, Division of Psychiatry, University of Edinburgh
Andrew McIntosh is Professor of Biological Psychiatry at the Division of Psychiatry, Centre for Clinical Brain Sciences. He chairs the mental health expert working group, which aims to understand the genetic and non-genetic basis of mental health disorders.
Andrew leads the Generation Scotland Expert Working Group for Psychiatric Disorders and co-chairs the Major Depressive Disorder Working Group of the Psychiatric Genomics Consortium (PGC). He is also a clinically active consultant psychiatrist with NHS Lothian.
Archie Campbell, Centre for Genomic and Experimental Medicine, Institute of Genetics & Molecular Medicine, University of Edinburgh
Archie joined GS in 2007 as Data Analyst / Programmer, and became GS Project Manager in 2015. He acts as Data Advisor on the Access Committee, and is responsible for liaising with researchers about their data requirements.  He also develops software for the GS internet data portal and other projects. Archie has over 20 years’ experience in programming and database administration both in academia and in the private sector.  On termination of core funding to GS through the Chief Scientist Office, we were fortunate to obtain ongoing support for Archie as GS Project Manager through the NHS Lothian Research & Development support fund. In 2018 he also received funding from HDR UK Scotland and became affiliated to the Usher Institute as a data analyst, advising on electronic health record linkage. Archie is formally part of the NHS Lothian Tissue Biorepository team.

 
 
Generation Scotland Executive Committee and Expert Working Groups
Executive Committee
Professor David Porteous - Centre for Genomic and Experimental Medicine, Institute of Genetics & Molecular Medicine, University of Edinburgh, Western General Hospital, Edinburgh EH4 2XU, United Kingdom.
Professor Blair Smith - Division of Population Health and Genomics, Ninewells Hospital and Medical School, University of Dundee, Dundee DD1 9SY, United Kingdom.
Professor Corri Black - Aberdeen Centre for Health Data Science, 1:042 Polwarth Building School of Medicine, Medical Science and Nutrition University of Aberdeen, Foresterhill, Aberdeen, AB25 2ZD.
Professor Sandosh Padmanabhan - Institute of Cardiovascular and Medical Sciences, University of Glasgow, Glasgow G12 8TA, United Kingdom
Expert Working Group Leads
Professor Blair Smith (Pain) - Division of Population Health and Genomics, Ninewells Hospital and Medical School, University of Dundee, Dundee DD1 9SY, United Kingdom
Professor Ian Deary (Cognition) - Lothian Birth Cohort Principal Investigator and Department of Psychology, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh EH8 9JZ, United Kingdom.
Doctor Riccardo Marioni (Cognition) - Centre for Genomic and Experimental Medicine, Institute of Genetics & Molecular Medicine, University of Edinburgh, Western General Hospital, Edinburgh EH4 2XU, United Kingdom. 
Professor Andrew McIntosh (Mental Health) - Division of Psychiatry, University of Edinburgh, Royal Edinburgh Hospital, Edinburgh EH10 5HF, United Kingdom.
Professor Caroline Hayward (Genetic Annotation) - MRC Human Genetics Unit, Institute of Genetics and Molecular Medicine, University of Edinburgh, Western General Hospital, Edinburgh EH4 2XU, United Kingdom
Professor Cathie Sudlow (Electronic Health Records) - Usher Institute of Population Health Sciences and Informatics, NINE, 9 Little France Road, Edinburgh BioQuarter, Edinburgh, EH16 4UX
Doctor Kathy Evans (Methylation) - Centre for Genomic and Experimental Medicine, Institute of Genetics & Molecular Medicine, University of Edinburgh, Western General Hospital, Edinburgh EH4 2XU, United Kingdom
 
Generation Scotland Access Committee
The Generation Scotland Access Committee is responsible for reviewing all applications made to use Generation Scotland resources. The committee meets 3 or 4 times a year, and can also review proposals online.
The Committee aims to provide an application response within 6-8 weeks of submission and is chaired by Professor David Porteous.
The Access committee is comprised of the Executive Committee, Expert Working Group leads, NHS Scotland and Scottish Universities technology transfer representatives.