- They believe that the tokenization or NFT of the genetic profile can help patients maintain data ownership and transparency of their knowledge.
- This, while receiving many benefits not normally associated with traditional genomic testing.
- Tokenization of genomic or genetic profile data in the form of NFTs has the potential to transform healthcare models.
For those unfamiliar with the term, precision medicine is refers a “an emerging approach to disease treatment and prevention that takes into account individual variability in each person’s genes, environment, and lifestyle,” according to the Precision Medicine Initiative and very soon there could be an NFT of the genetic profile.
Specifically speaking, Cao, CEO and co-founder of Genetics, believes that the tokenization of genetic profiles can help patients maintain data ownership and transparency of their insights while receiving many benefits not normally associated with traditional genomic testing.
He explained what:
For example, Geneticsa genomics company serving the Asia Pacific region, recently partnered with Oasis Labs, a web data management company, to tokenize genomic profiles. Tuan Cao, CEO and co-founder of Genetica, told Cointelegraph that the goal behind this partnership is advancing precision medicine by giving patients ownership and rights to data through GeneNFT.
“This may be one of the biggest NFT applications in the world. Our genetic profile is unique and should be represented by an NFT. GeneNFTs are the tokenized ownership of one’s genetic data. This allows each of us to really take control and benefit from our data contribution.”
Genetic profiling NFTs have the potential to transform healthcare models
According to Cao, traditional genetic testing companies like 23andMe, for example, rely on intermediaries to collect patient data for research. As such, users must trust centralized entities to securely store sensitive health information. Additionally, users are not incentivized for choosing to share their data with third parties. Nevertheless, tokenization of genomic data in the form of NFTs has the potential to completely transform this model.
For example, Cao explained that Genetica’s partnership with OasisLabs allows users to take a traditional genetic test and then receive a GeneNFT that represents the real property of your genetic profile. More importantly, Cao noted that GeneNFT holders become the gatekeepers of their data, meaning they must grant access to third-party entities that wish to use that information.
He elaborated:
“A user who owns a GeneNFT also owns the private key for that data. If a pharmaceutical company, for example, wants to carry out a genetic study, it must send an access proposal. A user can then sign the proposal to approve access.”
Cao further explained that there are financial and medical benefits associated with GeneNFT.
“Financial benefits involve revenue sharing, so users will be paid when third parties request access to their data. We can issue these payments automatically thanks to blockchain technology and smart contracts,” said Cao.
Cao believes that the medical benefits achieved with GeneNFT outweigh the financial incentives. “When users participate in a genetic study, a smart contract is leveraged to ensure that patients receive treatment first if they contribute to a clinical trial. Precision medicine profiles for treatments of certain diseases based on genetic variantswhich is how this model is ultimately advancing precision medicine,” he said.
GeneNFTs can be viewed as data-backed, non-fungible tokens
Dawn Song, founder of OasisLabstold Cointelegraph that GeneNFTs can be viewed as data-backed, non-fungible tokens.
“Usually people think of NFTs as JPEG images, but data-backed NFTs combine blockchain with privacy computing to use certain data while still complying with data usage policies like data protection regulations. of the EU or GDPR,” he said.
Technically speaking, Song explained that Genetica will use Parcel of OasisNetwork, a privacy-preserving data governance application programming interface (API) for tokenizing genomic profiles.
It was mentioned that:
“Given that genomes are the quintessential identity of individuals, it is critical that any platform that stores and processes genomic data provide confidentiality for data at rest, in motion, and most importantly, in use. Parcel provides these capabilities by using encryption of data at rest and in motion and trusted execution environments to keep data in use confidential.”
Given the size of genomic data and the complexity of the computations that run on it, Song further explained that the use of off-chain storage Parcel and secure off-chain execution environments makes it possible to store genomic data and run analytics. in them.
“Parcel also supports a policy framework that is used by data owners, or by people as owners of their genomes, to specify who can use their data and for what purposes,” he added. To date, the technology OasisLab has enabled the tokenization of 30,000 genomic profiles and the partnership with Genetica will increase this number to 100,000.
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