Experts in high-tech healthcare want better sharing of genomic information.

The Global Alliance for Genomics and Health (GA4GH) says a global clinical and genomic data-sharing initiative would give clinicians and scientists new tools to tackle genetic diseases and cancer.

GA4GH was established in 2014 to improve the world of genomic medicine, and has since grown to include more than 400 organisations and over 700 individual members.

The Global Alliance has help bring together incredible amounts of data held in major national initiatives such as the US Cancer Moonshot, Genomics England, Genome Canada, H3Africa and the Australian Genomics Health Alliance (AGHA).

It is now pushing for more connections.

Peter Goodhand, GA4GH Executive Director, says responsible and effective data sharing allows clinicians and scientists to make best use of the millions of genome sequences that currently sit in siloed databases around the globe.

“There is enormous potential to improve diagnosis and provide more personalised treatment and management of medical conditions through genomics,” said Professor North.

“In principle, this wealth of integrated genomic data and clinical information could reveal the genetic bases of cancer, inherited disorders and infectious diseases, which impact people across the world.”

The GA4GH has created a toolkit of products, including a standardised application programming interface (API), which allows disparate technology services of institutions around the globe to communicate with one another to exchange clinical and genetic information.

But the Alliance argues in an article published in the latest edition of the journal Science that there are many remaining challenges to sharing data across national and institutional boundaries.

“Millions of genome sequences are being generated around the globe, but to gain the full benefits from these data — to advance human health and to prevent and treat disease — laboratory and clinical investigators will need more effective means of access to data, regardless of where the data are stored,” said Professor Harold Varmus, Chair of the GA4GH Scientific Advisory Board.

“The only way to do that is for the global community to come together across traditional boundaries — be they national, institutional, or technical — to create a system that works for everyone. The GA4GH has begun to do that in the projects described in this new report.”

The full article is accessible here. [http://science.sciencemag.org/content/352/6291/1278]