The document discusses the challenge of unlocking the potential of the unparalleled generation of human genomic and genetic data in a way that allows global data sharing. It introduces the Global Alliance for Genomics and Health, an international organization working to catalyze responsible data sharing through establishing interoperable standards and approaches. Key activities of the Global Alliance include several data sharing projects and working groups focused on clinical data, data representation, and ethics. The document encourages further international collaboration and participation to realize the benefits of genomic data sharing.
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The Challenge
Data from millions of samples needed to achieve results - showing patterns
that would otherwise remain obscure
Right now:
• Data is typically in silos: by type, by disease, by country, by institution
• Analysis methods are non-standardized, few at scale
• Approaches to regulation, consent and data sharing limit interoperability
Will take new methods and organizational models
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What can we do?
Work together internationally to ensure interoperability of data and
methods to harmonise approaches to ethics and regulation
Support pilot projects that responsibly and effectively harmonise, analyse and
share genomic and clinical data
Engage professional communities and the public; build trust and encourage
appropriate sharing and learning
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The Global Alliance will NOT directly:
Generate or store data
Perform research or care for patients
Interpret genomes
Be exclusive to entities that have and share data
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Organizational Members
Global Alliance members include:
1. Universities & research institutes
2. Academic medical centers
and health systems
3. Disease advocacy organisations &
patient groups
4. Consortia & professional societies
5. Funders & agencies
6. Life science & information technology
companies
Last Update: 2 April 2015
305
Member
Organizations
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Member location
Countries
• Australia
• Austria
• Belgium
• Brazil
• Canada
• China
• Denmark
• Finland
• France
• Georgia
• Germany
• Hong Kong
• Hungary
• India
• Ireland
• Italy
• Japan
• Mexico
• Netherlands
• New Zealand
• Qatar
• Russia
• Singapore
• South Africa
• Spain
• Switzerland
• United Kingdom
• United States
• Venezuela
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Last Update: 2 April 2015
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Working Groups
Clinical Working Group: compatible, accessible and scalable
approaches for sharing clinical data and linking genomic data
Data Working Group: genomic data representation, storage, and
analysis, with academic and industry leaders to develop interoperable
standards for data exchange
Regulatory and Ethics Working Group: ethics, legal and social
implications of the Global Alliance, harmonising policies and
standards, developing consent, privacy procedures, and best-
practices in data governance and transparency
Security Working Group: working to develop federated approaches
for user identification and authentication
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Operations
• Host institutions
• Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute
• Ontario Institute for Cancer Research
• Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard
• Funding
• Major international funders for sustainability
• Outreach to public / philanthropic funders for expanded
funding
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Highlights and Working Group Products
• GA4GH Genomics API and Reference Implementation enables DNA data
providers and consumers to better share information and work together
on a global scale
• Framework for Responsible Sharing of Genomic and Health-Related Data
foundational principles for responsible data sharing, guided by human
rights, including privacy, non-discrimination, and procedural fairness
• Security Infrastructure describes infrastructure policy and technology
recommended for stakeholders in the Global Alliance ecosystem
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• Undertaken by members
• Catalysed and supported by coordinators and Working Groups
• Drive learning, identify requirements and coordinate activity
Beacon Project
Matchmaker Exchange
BRCA Challenge
Current data sharing projects
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A project to test the willingness of international sites to share
genetic data in the simplest of all technical contexts
• A beacon answers the simple question, have you observed a genome
with a specific allele?
• For example, you can ask 1000 Genomes Project beacon, do you have
any genomes with an ‘A’ at position 100,000 on chr1?
• Sharing data through a beacon
o is technically simple
o does not reveal privacy violating information
The Beacon Project
YES
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Public Beacons
Host Content
AMPLab 1000 Genomes Project
Broad Institute ExAC
Curoverse PGP, GA4GH Example Data
EBI
1000 Genomes Project, UK10K, GoNL, EVS, GEUVADIS,
UMCG Cardio GenePanel
Google
1000 Genomes Project, Phase III, Illumina Platinum
Genomes
ISB Known VARiants
NCBI NHLBI Exome Sequence Project
OICR 55 cancer datasets
SolveBio 56 public datasets
UCSC ClinVar, LOVD, UniProt
University of Leicester Cafe CardioKit, Cafe Variome Central
WTSI IBD, Native American, Egyptian, UK10K
Over 120 public
datasets beaconized
across 12 institutions
10s thousands of
individuals
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Matchmaker Exchange
• growing number of teams and projects working towards a
federated platform (Exchange)
• facilitate the matching of cases with similar phenotypic and
genotypic profiles (matchmaking) through standardised application
programming interfaces (APIs) and procedural conventions
Matchmaker Exchange
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• Pooling data on BRCA genetic variants, bringing together information on
sequence variation, phenotype and scientific evidence
• Leverage existing and emerging BRCA data globally
• Led by Stephen Channock (NCI) and John Burn (HVP)
• Short-term – consolidate largest datasets through submission to existing
BRCA databases (ClinVar and LOVD)
• Longer term – expand data sources, expert classification of variants, and
functional studies, etc.
BRCA Challenge
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Culture and incentives
• International data sharing can be achieved by federation and use of
metadata while respecting national and regional restrictions
• To realise the benefits we need to create an environment where
there is a willingness to share and learn from genomic data
• Public attitudes towards personal data differ between countries and
are changing
• Increasing awareness of the benefit of sharing
• Increasing attention to privacy
• Collaborate on INTEROPERABILITY; Compete on Implementation
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Working together
• Individuals are KEY to creating the new tools, frameworks, projects
and opportunities
• Organizations are KEY to ensuring the adoption of best practices and
support/reward of responsible data sharing
• 3rd Plenary on June 9-10 in Leiden, NL
• Use our API, adopt our polices, work with us
• Join the Global Alliance for Genomics and Health
• as an Individual Member
• as an Organizational Member
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In closing..
UK contacts Wellcome Genome Campus
Julia Wilson
jw20@sanger.ac.uk
Stephen Keenan
stephen.keenan@genomicsandhealth.org
David Lloyd
David.lloyd@genomicsandhealth.org
Hinweis der Redaktion
If we don’t act: risk an overwhelming mass of fragmented data, such as electronic medical records in many countries
Convene stakeholders to share information, best practices, and enable interoperability
Catalyze sharing of data among members, supporting pilot projects that drive progress
Create harmonized approaches, identify and study best practices; where needed develop new approaches; and broadly disseminate common frameworks
Act as a clearinghouse, with a network effect of sharing best practices, cross-pollinating ideas, and communicating across stakeholder communities
Foster innovation by identifying driving problems, bringing together experts, lowering barriers to introducing new methods and data, and enabling discovery
Commit to responsible data sharing, working together to promote high standards for ethics and ensuring participants have the choice to share data if they so choose
on this slide we have a list of Beacon providers and the content that they're serving. so to date we have over 120 public datasets that have been made available via Beacons at 12 different institutions. So this represents data from 10s of thousands of individuals and theses metrics, the numbers of datasets and individuals that they represent
The Challenge
In both research and clinical settings, the majority of patients with rare disease lack a clear etiology after exome and genome sequencing. Finding just a single additional case with a deleterious variant in the same gene and overlapping phenotype may provide sufficient evidence to identify the causative gene, but today, case data sits in isolated databases.
The Solution
The 'Matchmaker Exchange' project was launched in October 2013 to address this challenge and find genetic causes for patients with rare disease. This project will allow researchers and clinicians working in both germline and cancer to discover samples with a given rare genotype or phenotype.
If we go down the right path, great potential for innovation, discovery and health
This will involve a new and widespread willingness to share information
We aren’t naïve – this will require cultural changes and incentives. Attitudes towards sharing are changing rapidly, and cut both ways.
Together, we need to help drive this to an outcome to maximize benefit to human health while respecting the right to privacy and autonomy