The Severe Mental Illness Longitudinal Evaluation (SMILE) BioResource is a new, national initiative aiming to accelerate research to improve outcomes and quality of life for people living with severe mental illness (SMI).
The SMILE BioResource is a collaboration led by the NIHR Mental Health Translational Research Collaboration Mission, the University of Oxford, and the NIHR BioResource to investigate the causes of SMI and how best to develop new, personalised treatments.
The SMILE BioResource is building a cohort of up to 2,000 volunteers from across the UK aged 16 and over who have a recorded diagnosis of SMI. This includes those with conditions including psychosis, schizophrenia, schizoaffective disorders and severe mood disorders with psychotic symptoms.
Participants are invited to contribute a small blood or saliva sample, complete symptom and lifestyle questionnaires, and provide consent for researchers to access relevant clinical information.
Their anonymised samples create a high-quality resource of data that researchers can use to investigate the biological, social and environmental factors that shape the risk and experience of SMI.
By making it possible to recontact volunteers for future studies that align with their data and biological samples, the SMILE BioResource is designed to accelerate discovery and ensure research is based on robust, real-world evidence.
The SMILE Bioresource has been designed in collaborations with a dedicated patient and public involvement panel, who helped to ensure the initiative reflects the priorities and experiences of people living with SMI.
For more information about taking part, email SMIbioresource@psych.ox.ac.uk.
