Hostname: page-component-7c8c6479df-995ml Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-03-28T15:50:42.904Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Australian Twin Registry: A Nationally Funded Resource for Medical and Scientific Research, Incorporating match and WATCH

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  21 February 2012

John L. Hopper*
Affiliation:
Australian Twin Registry, Centre for Molecular, Environmental, Genetic and Analytic Epidemiology, The University of Melbourne, Australia. j.hopper@unimelb.edu.au
Susan A. Treloar
Affiliation:
Australian Twin Registry, Centre for Molecular, Environmental, Genetic and Analytic Epidemiology, The University of Melbourne, Australia; Genetic Epidemiology Laboratory, Queensland Institute of Medical Research, Australia.
Nicholas H. de Klerk
Affiliation:
Western Australian Twin Child Health (WATCH) Study, Department of Biostatistics and Genetic Epidemiology, Telethon Institute for Child Health Research and Centre for Child Health Research, The University of Western Australia, Perth, Australia.
Ruth Morley
Affiliation:
Mothers and Twin Children (match), Department of Paediatrics and Murdoch Children's Research Institute, The University of Melbourne, Australia.
*
*Address for correspondence: John L. Hopper, Centre for Molecular, Environmental, Genetic and Analytic Epidemiology, The University of Melbourne, Level 2, 723 Swanston Street, Carlton, VIC 3053, Australia.

Abstract

Core share and HTML view are not available for this content. However, as you have access to this content, a full PDF is available via the ‘Save PDF’ action button.

The Australian Twin Registry (ATR) has, since the late 1970s, enrolled more than 30,000 pairs of all zygosity types and ages willing to consider participation in approved research studies. Its core functions are the recruitment to, and maintenance of, an up-to-date database containing contact details and baseline information, and the management of fair and equitable access so as to enhance medical and scientific research. The ATR has facilitated more than 430 studies producing 525 peer-reviewed publications using a variety of designs including classic biometrical twin and twin family studies, co-twin control studies, intervention studies, longitudinal studies, and studies of issues relevant specifically to twins. The ATR is supported for 2004 to 2009 by an Australian National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC) Enabling Grant, a new form of funding which recognizes the importance of long-term support for shared national resources. New initiatives include: integration with the Western Australian Twin Child Health (WATCH) cohort and the new Western Australian Twin Registry (WATR); foundation of a cohort of mothers and their twin children recruited from the time of diagnosis of the multiple gestation (match); a national Twins Festival run in collaboration with the Australian Multiple Birth Association (AMBA); promotion of the ATR at medical conferences; and fostering an active network of researchers from a range of disciplines and providing financial support for new researchers to attend international twin research workshops. Consistent with its mission statement, the long-term goal of the ATR is to make twin studies a standard component of medical and scientific research.

Type
Articles/Australia
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2006