In order to facilitate these studies, the ATR maintains a national register of twin pairs and their relatives who are willing to consider participating in health related research. Twins are able to help researchers study the impact of genetic and environmental factors on health and the treatment and prevention of disease in a special way.
The Australian Twin Registry is funded by the federal government through the National Health and Medical Research Council in order to put researchers in touch with twins who might be willing to take part in particular projects. More than 31,000 pairs of twins have joined the Registry, making it the largest volunteer registry of its kind in the world.