Inuvika was selected to deliver secure access to the 100,000 Genomes Project.
- Genomics England beauftragte Inuvika mit der Bereitstellung einer sicheren virtualisierten Anwendungs- und Desktop-Umgebung für das 100.000 Genomes Project. -
Genomics England Ltd. wurde 2013 gegründet, um einen neuen Dienst für Genomikmedizin für die Nationaler Gesundheitsdienst des Vereinigten Königreichs (NHS). Mit dem Ziel, neue wissenschaftliche Entdeckungen und medizinische Erkenntnisse zu ermöglichen, hat das 100.000 Genome Projekt will ultimately sequence 100,000 genomes from around 70,000 NHS patients and their families with rare diseases and cancers. The project aims to enable new scientific discoveries, medical insights, and diagnostics. When completed, the NHS will be able to offer genomic medicine and personalized treatments to patients with conditions that are currently hard to treat. This will be achieved through the combination of genomic sequence data and patient health records. Today it is the largest national sequencing project of its kind in the world.
Genomics England is a company wholly owned by the UK Department of Health. In addition to being able to offer genomic medicine to transform the way people are cared for, it also has a mandate to kick-start the UK genomics industry. To be efficient, flexible, and able to move quickly with market changes, the company is working with other organizations for sample collection, analysis, and data storage. Crucially, however, it maintains primary responsibility for data protection.
In 2014, Genomics England set about the design and building of a secure technology infrastructure for clinical genomics research by contributing academic, industrial research, and NHS clinical organizations. The design is needed to facilitate secure data access and computing resources and define the software, interfaces, and data processing resources necessary for scientific collaboration and the generation of ‘analysis-ready’ datasets.
Die Herausforderung
Die größte Herausforderung bestand darin, eine virtualisierte Anwendungsumgebung für die Analyse und Verarbeitung genomischer Sequenzierungsdatensätze bereitzustellen, auf die Forscher und Kliniker zugreifen können. Die Umgebung musste die Sicherheits- und Vertraulichkeitsverpflichtungen des NHS und des unabhängigen Access Review Committee von Genomics England erfüllen. Forscher mussten die Möglichkeit haben, die anonymisierten Ergebnisse ihrer Analysen herunterzuladen. Kliniker mussten in der Lage sein, geprüfte Datensätze, wie z. B. klinische Berichte, zu exportieren, allerdings nur für die von ihnen betreuten Teilnehmer. Alle Daten, die ihre Systeme verlassen, müssen eine "Luftschleuse" durchlaufen, in der geprüft wird, ob die exportierten Daten angemessen sind.
To ensure that no raw data could be exported, the processing and analysis of genomic data had to be entirely and securely contained within the Genomics England data centers. The design required that system users be prevented from circumventing data policy. For example, users could not be allowed to ‘cut and paste’ raw data into their own systems. The design also required that the IT services be provided to approved academic, research, and industry partners without the need to authorize, install, and manage client-side software.
Die Lösung: Virtualisierte Anwendungen
Genomics England wählte Inuvika's OVD Unternehmen (OVD) platform to deliver the desktop environment, virtualized application access, and management framework for the 100,000 Genomes Project. Through a “Reading Room”, users are provided with restricted, remote access to their research environment and the de-identified datasets through the OVD HTML5 client gateway and a published Windows desktop.
No data is transferred or stored on the remote HTML5-enabled client. Only screen, mouse, and keyboard data is sent over an encrypted connection. The policy-based access capability of OVD ensures that no unauthorized transfer of data to the end user is possible. OVD disables connection to any client-side storage devices, such as hard drives and USB storage, in addition to any cut-and-paste capabilities.
"We selected Inuvika’s OVD Enterprise for its ability to support the Windows and Linux app requirements of our research environment while being able to ‘airlock’ the project data securely within our datacentres,", sagte David Brown, Leiter der Informatik-Infrastruktur. “With no need to install client software on a user’s local device and no requirement for firewall intervention on remote client sites, it makes secure access for researchers, clinicians, academia, and data providers very simple.”
