Scott Thiebes, Matthias Schlesner, Benedikt Brors, Ali Sunyaev
Modern life sciences with their highly sensitive omics data face several challenges regarding data storage and sharing [ 1 , 2 ]. On the one hand data must be protected to preserve the privacy of those individuals who contributed their data to research. On the other hand, omics data’s true value is only to be realized if shared with as many researchers as possible. In an ideal world, patients can flexibly control access to their personal data on a case-by-case basis [ 3 ]. However, granting and revoking access to data is a slow and tedious process within the current life sciences research paradigm, where most data is either stored on central controlled-access data repositories or kept locally within the respective research groups [ 3 ].