How to Keep Your Sequenced Genome Securely Stored in the Cloud

Sequencing the genome of patients is rapidly becoming a standard procedure since the cost is falling drastically and the possibilities rise at the same time. This development raises important questions about who may interpret these data and how their secure storage can be guaranteed. A Swiss start-up company, Sophia Genetics, founded and located at the EPFL Science Park in Lausanne, has the goal to address this issue and specialize in robust solutions and now raised 2.8 million francs ($3 million USD).

Complete sequencing of the genome will soon enable personalized treatments. Moreover, new prescription drugs based on genetic markers are coming on the market. Given the drastic reduction on the cost of DNA analysis, it may even be possible before long to know each person’s predisposition to certain diseases, allergies, and food intolerances. Riding on this wave in medicine, Jurgi Camblong, Pierre Hutter and Lars Steinmetz have founded a start-up to securely store this data, with one genome containing about 3 billion letters or nucleotides.

Reading the data will be made easier with a new bioinformatics software, which is already being used by a dozen hospitals and laboratories in Switzerland since it was launched in 2012. Once sequenced, the data is transmitted to Sophia Genetics for bioinformatics analysis. The geneticist then has access to a visualization tool to help interpret the data. Other applications for viewing and performing electronic biopsies of all parts of the genome are currently being developed.

How is it possible to ensure that a person’s genetic information will not be disclosed, for example to insurance companies and employers? The company has worked to standardize and automate the analysis and storage of data in two data centers in Switzerland. With the laboratory of Professor Jean-Pierre Hubaux at EPFL, the start-up is developing a high security storage that may be necessary in the future. One of the main elements of confidentiality is to provide the patient with a cryptographic key that comes in two parts for each sequencing. The patient would give one part to Sophia Genetics and the other to the physician so that the data could only be read when the patient has given consent.

Sophia Genetics aims high: to cover 80% of the Swiss market in the field of diagnostics by the end of the year and then extend to the European market, which could reach a volume of 500 million francs by 2015.