How to participate

FinnGen has met its target of collecting 500,000 participants. We want to thank each and every Finnish biobank sample donor for making medical research possible and the biobanks for their excellent cooperation over the past years!

Older woman nordic walking during the winter.

By donating a biobank sample you can contribute to medical research.

All public Finnish biobanks are members of the FinnGen consortium. It is likely that if you have given a biobank consent and sample by March 2023, your sample is included in the FinnGen study.

Sample donors are free to cancel, change or restrict their consent to biobank research at any time by giving notice in writing according to the instructions of the biobank in question. This page contains contact information for biobanks.

How can I get information about the use of my own sample?

The Biobank Act states that everyone has the right to receive, upon request, information on whether or not their samples are being stored in a biobank. If you want to know whether your samples are stored in a specific biobank or have been utilized in the FinnGen study, please contact the biobank in question.

In addition to the new samples collected by the Finnish biobanks, the FinnGen study also utilizes samples collected by the Finnish Hematology Registry and Clinical Biobank (FHRB Biobank) and the following old sample cohorts that have been transferred to THL Biobank, Helsinki Biobank, Auria Biobank, Arctic Biobank or the Biobank of Eastern Finland:

Botnia Study
Corogene Study
National FINRISK Study 1992-2012
Health 2000 and 2011 Surveys
Helsinki Heart Study
THL Diabetes Studies
THL Psychiatric Family Collections
Migraine Study
Twin Study
FINNAKI Study
Finnish IPF
(ATBC) Lung Cancer Prevention Study
Helsinki Heart Study
Northern Finland Birth Cohorts NFBC1966 and NFBC1986
Northern Finland aging individuals Oulu1935 and Oulu1945
The Finland-United States Investigation of NIDDM Genetics (FUSION) study
Direva diabetes study
Biobank of Eastern Finland research cohorts (aneurysm, ADGEN, KBCP, NPH, L-MCI, Nomod and IIH S100B studies)

These study cohorts where the participants have also provided a biobank consent are part of FinnGen:

Super study
GeneRISK study
FinHealth
Fin-HIT (The Finnish Health in Teens Study)

FinnGen in brief

FinnGen is a large public-private partnership aiming to collect and analyse genome and health data from 500,000 Finnish biobank participants. FinnGen aims on one hand to provide novel medically and therapeutically relevant insights but also construct a world-class resource that can be applied for future studies.

FinnGen is one of the very first personalized medicine projects at this scale and the public-private collaborative nature of the project is exceptional compared to many ongoing studies. FinnGen brings together Finnish universities, hospitals and hospital districts, THL, Blood Service, biobanks, FINBB and international pharmaceutical companies and hundreds of thousands of Finns. Because collaboration is the key to achieving breakthroughs in disease prevention, diagnosis, and treatment, we welcome everyone on this journey into our shared heritage.