Yorkshire based company Despatch Cloud has provided key services to help facilitate UK  Biobank’s study that will enable scientists to monitor the long-term health effects of infection with coronavirus across the full disease spectrum. 

In the largest study of its kind, 500,000 UK Biobank participants are being invited to receive a  self-test kit to find out if they have SARS-CoV-2 antibodies. Data from these tests will be  added to UK Biobank’s biomedical database and made available to the scientific research  community. This unique dataset, combined with the genetic and lifestyle information already  collected by UK Biobank, and regular updates of health through linkage to electronic health  records, will allow researchers to study the long-term health impact of SARS-CoV-2  infection. 

UK Biobank is using a global eCommerce business’s logistics network to distribute the  antibody kits to participants across the UK, which has waived its fees for the length of the  project. 

Alongside this, Despatch Cloud is providing the technology to generate the shipping labels  required for shipping purposes free of charge. 

Despatch Cloud’s label generation software works across multiple carriers nationally and internationally. With integrations to all the major carriers and resellers, Despatch Cloud’s platform gives businesses flexibility on their shipping requirements and the ability to scale as your business grows. 

Despatch Cloud Founder Matthew Dunne stated the following on his company’s involvement in the project: “As soon as we were contacted and asked about providing our services as part of the project, we jumped at the chance to do our bit in helping the scientific community better understand the long term effects of this terrible virus. Our label generation software  has enabled UK Biobank to ensure their testing kits can get out to the participants speedily  and correctly through the logistics network.”

The project is expected to run for several months and the widespread hope is that the new information gained from the testing will enable a greater understanding of the virus and its long-term effects.