A solution for secure analysis of genetic data developed in Estonia

Estonian companies in cooperation with the University of Tartu have developed a method for privacy preserving analysis of human genome data.

Utilizing the solution developed in cooperation involving Cybernetica AS, the Software Technology and Applications Competence Centre, and the University of Tartu, gene banks can conduct joint studies while ensuring full privacy of gene donor data. This was achieved by employing the technology of secure multiparty computation system Sharemind developed at Cybernetica AS. Secure multiparty computation enables collection and analysis of data without the processing party having access to any specific values. As a result, a joint dataset can be created for several gene banks which can then be analyzed in order to find important gene variants while leakage of any personal data is avoided. Description of the solution was published in the international top-ranking bioinformatics journal Bioinformatics.

More information can be found in a press release by the Tartu University.

Defence of the doctoral dissertation “Sharemind: programmable secure computations with practical applications” of Mr. Dan Bogdanov, researcher at Cybernetica AS and Sharemind project manager, was successfully completed at the Institute of Computer Science of the University of Tartu on February 28th, 2013.