The Michigan Genomics Initiative: A biobank linking genotypes and electronic clinical records in Michigan Medicine patients

Biobanks of linked clinical patient histories and biological samples are an efficient strategy to generate large cohorts for modern genetics research. Biobank recruitment varies by factors such as geographic catchment and sampling strategy, which affect biobank demographics and research utility. Here, we describe the Michigan Genomics Initiative (MGI), a single-health-system biobank currently consisting of >91,000 participants recruited primarily during surgical encounters at Michigan Medicine. The surgical enrollment results in a biobank enriched for many diseases and ideally suited for a disease genetics cohort. Compared with the much larger population-based UK Biobank, MGI has higher prevalence for nearly all diagnosis-code-based phenotypes and larger absolute case counts for many phenotypes. Genome-wide association study (GWAS) results replicate known findings, thereby validating the genetic and clinical data. Our results illustrate that opportunistic biobank sampling within single health systems provides a unique and complementary resource for exploring the genetics of complex diseases.