Tuesday, February 19, 2013

Coriell Spinoff Allows Biobanking of Patient Genomes!

Has anyone seen this cool idea? Coriell Institute is spinning off a very cool idea. 

Coriell and IBM will be collaborating to store patient genomes for cloud based analysis. 

While it is certain to face detractors due to security concerns and perhaps competing systems.......

 “I am a bit concerned if we really start to outsource data to the cloud without any regulation,” says Emiliano De Cristofaro, a cryptography scientist with Xerox’s PARC who is developing a genomic data storage and sharing platform. “We must not forget that the sensitivity of genomic information is quite unprecedented,” he says"......It is highly likely to succeed. 

While I agree security is paramount......you really can't go wrong with IBM. Seriously. I am certain, given Coriell's stance on their research collaborative (Full disclosure, I sit on both the ICOB and PAG boards) which is utmost science and peer review, that they will also be just as scrupulous with this new spin off company!

This of course had all been in the works for months now, as it was telegraphed in November of last year ON IBM's blog SmartPlanet

The Sherpa Says: This cloud based storage and analysis is the future. Given the security challenges, you must have an excellent IT partner. Coriell has chosen wisely as will succeed with this venture.