Genomics England is to work with LabKey Software to develop a data-management platform that meets the needs of the 100,000 Genomes Project. The deal puts the open-source LabKey Server platform at the center of the infrastructure the massive sequencing project will use to integrate and share data.
Questions about how Genomics England will integrate genotypic and phenotypic data, make them available securely to the right people and provide the tools to analyze the resource have hung over the project since the start. The patchy track record of large healthcare IT initiatives in the United Kingdom has added to the scrutiny. LabKey, which spun out of Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center in 2005, will now play a central role in developing a platform to wipe away these concerns and maximize the value of the database being built by the 100,000 Genomes Project.
The scale of the task, which entails integrating data from multiple sources and making it available to physicians and researchers, is significant, but the enlistment of LabKey means the project is already partway toward its objectives. Instead of starting from scratch, the collaborators will build upon earlier LabKey projects. "Building on the LabKey Server platform lets Genomics England leverage years of development with hundreds of research institutions and focus investment on incremental functionality needed beyond this proven base," LabKey CEO Michael Gersch said in a statement.
LabKey has experience working on large-scale life science IT projects. The Seattle, WA-based tech company helped to set up Immune Tolerance Network TrialShare, a public portal through which anyone can access and analyze deidentified data from clinical trials. LabKey was also involved with the Hutch Integrated Data Repository & Archive, a database of 335,000 people that is growing at the rate of 5,000 patients a year.
- read the release