Patients, health professionals and researchers working together to improve outcomes for arthritis and autoimmune diseases

Arthritis and autoimmune diseases are:

Painful

Causing inflammation (pain and swelling) of:

  • joints
  • muscles
  • bones
  • eyes
  • skin
  • other tissues

Disabling

Related to:

  • daily pain, stiffness and fatigue
  • tissue damage and scarring
  • joint destruction and deformity
  • impaired organ function (e.g. heart, lungs, kidneys)
  • higher rates of depression and anxiety
  • reduced life expectancy

Costly

To individual patients and society as a whole:

  • Arthritis/ musculoskeletal is the highest health area cost to our health system
  • High healthcare costs (e.g. biologic medications, joint replacements)
  • Higher rates of other expensive chronic health conditions
  • Impaired ability to work and earn a living
0 million
Australians live with arthritis, autoimmune or musculoskeletal disease
0+
types of arthritis and autoimmune disease
0+ billion
annual health system cost of arthritis
0 billion
annual economic impact of autoimmune disease

What is the A3BC project?

The Australian Arthritis and Autoimmune Biobank Collaborative (A3BC) is a national registry and biobank that supports collaborative, ethics‑approved research into arthritis and autoimmune disease. By combining biological samples with clinical, patient‑reported and linked health data, A3BC helps researchers better understand disease, improve treatment and work toward more personalised and effective care.

Key Studies and Collaborators

The A3BC represents a collaboration of several research groups and studies under a shared vision of better outcomes for patients with arthritis and autoimmune diseases.

Centre of Research Excellence for Better Outcomes in Inflammatory Arthritis

An overarching virtual network of national collaborators overseeing key A3BC research themes and taking a new holistic and multidisciplinary approach to data collection, analysis and development of the next generation of rheumatology researchers.

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Australian Rheumatology Assocation Database (ARAD)

A long-running national Australian database which collects important health information from individuals with inflammatory arthritis.

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PROSPECT clinical trial

A randomised controlled trial to compare drug dose reduction strategies in adults with rheumatoid arthritis and psoriatic arthritis for safer and more efficient drug use.

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Australian and New Zealand Childhood Arthritis Risk factor Identification Study (ANZ CLARITY)

A national juvenile idiopathic arthritis (JIA) biobanking study working to better understand the form of childhood arthritis called JIA in hopes of improving care, identifying cause, and eventually, finding a cure.

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A3BC for Kids

An Australia-wide project, centred around the Childhood Arthritis Multi‑omic Predictions Improving Outcomes Nationally – Methotrexate Taper eXperiment (CHAMPION‑MTX), that aims to advance precision medicine for children with juvenile idiopathic arthritis (JIA).

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Australian Juvenile Arthritis Registry (AJAR)

A consumer-led paediatric registry aiming to improve understanding of juvenile arthritis in Australia, led by A3BC partners, the Australian Paediatric Rheumatology Group (APRG) and Juvenile Arthritis Foundation Australia (JAFA). Collected information will be used to raise awareness, inform care needs, lobbying, research priorities and clinical decision making.

Read More

Being an A3BC participant involves:

Donating biological samples

e.g. blood, saliva, discarded tissue from surgeries, faeces, urine

Enabling powerful 'omics' research

  • Genomics
  • Metabolomics
  • Microbiomics
  • Proteomics
  • Transcriptomics

Sample collections usually scheduled during routine clinic visits or appointments can be made with A3BC collection staff at a time that works for you.

Completing online questionnaires

on your computer, tablet or phone

Collecting Information on Your

  • Demographics
  • Medical history & treatments
  • Quality of life
  • Lifestyle
  • Diet
  • Environments and exposures

Emailed to you every 6 – 12 months to understand how your health, treatments, lifestyle and quality of life changes over time.

Consenting to health data linkage

from clinics, hospitals, state and national datasets

Opt-in to data linkage to

  • National – Medicare Benefits Schedule
  • National – Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme
  • National or state – cancer, death, immunisation records
  • State – admissions (emergency, inpatients), notifiable conditions etc.
  • Hospital/health district – electronic medical records
  • Patient-controlled – MyHealthRecord

‘Data-linkage’ means we bring together your health information from different sources with your permission. This linked information helps researchers gain a more complete understanding of health and health journeys over time.

You can choose to take part in some or all of these activities.

How you can get involved

Ask your doctor to:

1) Confirm you meet the study eligibility criteria, and

2) Complete a Permission to Contact (PTC) Form so the A3BC team can contact you.

Informed consent

Before taking part, you will be provided with clear A3BC study information so you can understand exactly what participation involves and decide what is right for you.

The A3BC consists of two connected components:

  • Registry – a secure database that collects information about your health, treatments and outcomes over time. This supports national research into patient journeys, safety monitoring and long‑term outcomes.
  • Biobank – a secure facility that collects and stores biological samples (such as blood or tissue) to support research into disease mechanisms, treatment response and precision medicine.

To enrol, you are asked to read, understand and sign a Participant Information Sheet & Consent Form (PISCF), either:

  • Online at home (secure electronic consent), or
  • In person in the clinic with A3BC study staff (electronic or paper form)

The A3BC consent process is highly flexible. You may choose to take part in a one‑off or ongoing manner and can participate in some or all of the following:

  • Online questionnaires (Registry)
  • Health data linkage (Registry)
  • Biospecimen donation (Biobank – e.g. blood, tissue or fluid samples)

Blood collection scheduled (Biobank participants)

• Usually collected at the same time as your routine blood collection for your clinic visit.

• Typically four separate blood collections are required at:

  • Study enrolment (baseline)
  • 6 months after enrolment
  • 12 months after enrolment
  • 24 months after enrolment

• Where applicable, baseline collections are ideally collected before any planned change in therapy e.g. before starting, switching, tapering or stopping medications.

• You may also be able to donate other biospecimens e.g. oral swab, stool, or waste tissue from any upcoming surgeries and biopsies you are scheduled for – all are very valuable to researchers.

• Not all participants will be asked to provide samples at every timepoint.

Questionnaires (Registry participants)

  • After consent, you will receive your first questionnaire by email, covering topics such as symptoms, medications, lifestyle, quality of life, diet and environmental exposures.
  • Shorter follow‑up questionnaires are then emailed:
    • Every 6 months for the first 2 years, and
    • Every 12 months thereafter for the life of the study
  • Follow‑up questionnaires focus mainly on changes since your last questionnaire.

Future contact from the A3BC

  • The A3BC team may contact you to organise sample collections or remind you about questionnaires.
  • You may also receive occasional newsletters or invitations to hear about other research studies you might be eligible to take part in. Participation in any additional studies is entirely your choice.
  • You are free to withdraw from the study at any time. If you withdraw, you will be asked whether you wish your already‑collected samples and data to continue to be used for research or be destroyed.

The A3BC seeks to:

  • Build a national registry and biobank to support collaborative arthritis and autoimmune disease research

  • Integrate biological samples with clinical, patient‑reported and linked health data

  • Generate evidence to support safer, more effective and more personalised care

→ Learn more about the A3BC vision and aims

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