Lifelines hopes to inject 1.45 million: 'Very important for health research'

Unlike “normal” medical research, Lifelines collects data from healthy people. “A general practitioner does not do a general health check-up for no reason,” explains Miero. Lifelines repeat measurements once every five years. “This makes Lifelines a unique project.”

According to Miero, the great value of Lifelines participants lies in the complete medical picture you receive after the examinations. “You will find all the measurement results in your results letter, which we also share with your GP.”

With the potential expansion of the field of participants, the future looks bright. Once every five years, the Institute's Board consults the Ministry of Health, Social Welfare and Sport. The last consultation resulted in €17 million.

“The longer we can continue, the larger the data set becomes, which gives us additional functionality,” Miero says. He points to the role played by the institute in formulating the new health policy. “We see councilors in the area we are in using our research figures to prove their policy.”

“After news broke about our application with NPG, we received dozens of calls and emails from interested parties wanting to become involved,” Miero says. “The biggest concern is not whether we will find these new participants, but what we will do if we receive too many registrations.”

This solution may exist in Drenthe and Friesland, although there have been no applications for financing there. “But it is worth exploring,” concludes Miero. “The developments in Groningen give us support to also talk to other provinces.”