Twins Research Australia (TRA) has a number of different tools and resources to assist researchers. See below.
To stay up-to-date with the latest twin reseach subscribe to our Researcher eNews.
The twin registry
Twins Research Australia has over 35,000 active pairs on our database available to be approched for research.
This page describes our twin regisrty in more detail, including how we recruit members and an overview of our membership numbers.
How to determine zygosity
For twins, zygosity refers to the degree of genetic similarity within each pair. There are two different types of twins: Dizygotic (DZ, fraternal) and Monozygotic (MZ, identical).
It is important to determine zygosity accuaretly in twin studies. There are several different ways the zygosity of TRA members is determined. These are:
- Self-report
- DNA zygosity test
- The Peas-in-a-Pod (PIP) questionnaire
- Male/Female pairs
- Different blood types
Before conducting your twin study read more about zygosity and each method of validation.
TRA data available
Twins Research Australia is a national twin research centre that maintains a registry of more than 35,000 twin pairs interested in participating in research and is involved in numerous research projects. Access to the resource is open to all researchers.
Twin study designs, statistical analysis support and resources
Twins Research Australia has a number of different tools and resources to assist researchers with their twins studies. Please click on the links below for more information:
Conversations in twin research
Conversations in Twin Research is a series of papers [ISSN: 2652-5518] which aims to showcase the diverse application of the twin method to the research and health professionals’ community, and to start a conversation regarding use of this approach in all areas of research, including education, early life origins of chronic disease, clinical trials and population health research.
Read the series here.
External twin resources and registries
Explore international twin resources and registries below.
Other twin research
- Kings College London
- The Centre for the Study of Multiple Birth
- The Finnish Twin Cohort Study
- Minnesota Center for Twin and Family Research
- The Twins Foundation
- The Queensland Institute of Medical Research
- Institute of Behavioral Genetics, University of Colorado
- International Society of Twin Studies
- Virginia Institute for Psychiatric and Behavioral Genetics
- Wisconsin Twin Research
- Bielefeld University
Twin registries of the world
Brazil: The Brazilian Twin Registry
Denmark: Danish Twin Registry
Finland: The Finnish Twin Cohort Study
Guinea-Bissau: Bandim Health Project
Hungary: Hungarian Twin Registry
Israel: The Longitudinal Israeli Study of Twins
Italy: Italian Twin Register
Japan: Keio Twin Registry (aka Tokyo Twin Cohort Project)
Center for Twin Research, Osaka University Graduate School of Medicine
Netherlands: Netherlands Twin Registry
Norway: Norwegian Twin Registry
Spain: The Murcia Twin Registry
Sri Lanka: Sri Lankan Twin Registry
Sweden: Swedish Twin Registry
United Kingdom: TwinsUK
U.S.A: California Twin Program
Florida State Twin Registry (FSTR)
Michigan State University Twin Registry
Mid-Atlantic Twin Registry (MATR)
Minnesota Twin Registry
NAS-NRC Twin Registry
Northern California Twin Registry
Pittsburgh Registry of Infant Multiplets (PRIM)
The Southern California Twin Project
Washington State Twin Registry
Vietnam Era Twin Registry
International network of twin registries
The International Network of Twin Registries (INTR) brings together more than 30 twin registries across the world to collaborate on global topics. This initiative will enable discussion forums between researchers from any discipline – irrespective of their previous experience with twin studies, to communicate with all registries at the same time, within the same conversation. The focus of the INTR is to facilitate research collaborations that use data from twin registries around the world. This sustainable resource can be shared with the global research community to promote and accelerate twin research. Our resources are designed to be openly available to the world’s research community in order to foster scientific collaborations, particularly those involving multiple twin registries.
The fourth meeting of the International Network of Twin Registries (INTR) was hosted by the Center for Twin Research at the Osaka University Graduate School of Medicine, 28-29th September, 2015. More than 20 twin registries from across the world were represented at this meeting. Working groups were formed to address topics relevant to fostering collaboration between twin registries such as innovation and communication, stakeholder and industry engagement and novel funding. In addition, the INTR is planning an audit of biospecimen samples collected from twins.
For further information on future INTR events and to receive monthly INTR e-newsletters on current activities please contact info@worldwidetwins.net.
