statistical analysis of data obtained by comparing the DNA of people with and without a particular trait (cases and controls, respectively). This is a powerful approach which has already yielded considerable success. However thousands of individuals must be recruited for such case-control studies to generate meaningful results and this is often beyond the means of smaller research groups. Generation Scotland has put in place the considerable infrastructure required to recruit the necessary numbers of participants, to collect, process and securely store the associated biological samples and data, and to make these available to the wider research community. Scientists who are planning research into the causes or treatments of common complex diseases and who have appropriate approval from a Research Ethics Committee can apply to use the resource in accordance with Generation Scotland's Access Policy. All data generated in this way will be fed back to Generation Scotland and will in turn form part or the resource. Funding Generation Scotland is funded by a Strategic Research Development Grant of £1.79m from the Scottish Higher Education Funding Council (2003) a Genetics in Healthcare Initiative grant of £4.4m from the Scottish Government Health Directorates (2004) a grant of £170,209 from the Chief Scientist Office Biomedical and Therapeutic Research Committee (now the Experimental and Translational Medicine (ETM) Research Committee) (2004) a grant of £3.8m from the Scottish Government Health Directorates (2008) Collaborators Generation Scotland is a multi-institution, cross-disciplinary collaboration involving the people of Scotland the Scottish University Medical Schools University of Aberdeen University of Dundee University of Edinburgh University of Glasgow the Information Services Division of NHS National Services Scotland the MRC Human Genetics Unit, Edinburgh the MRC Social and Public Health Science Unit, Glasgow NHS Scotland the Scottish School of Primary Care the Wellcome Trust Clinical Research Facility, Edinburgh UK Biobank Projects Generation Scotland involves several disciplines including medicine, science, education and social science. This is reflected by the diversity of projects in the Generation Scotland portfolio: Scottish Family Health Study (GS:SFHS) Genetic Health in the 21st Century (GS:21CGH) Donor DNA Databank (GS:3D) Public Consultation Public consultation Public involvement is essential for the overall success of any Biobank and therefore one of the first Generation Scotland projects to get underway was a programme of public consultation. The aim of the programme is to foster a relationship of trust between potential participants and scientists and to understand and explain public reaction to a wide