On the 12th of February 2021, the privacy-first decentralized genetic testing Degenics won the United Nations Impact Bounty and IPFS Identity Bounty at the ETHDenver hackathon, thanks to its innovative concept and promising early implementation.
Degenics is based on a distributed ledger technology provided by the joint effort of the blockchain consulting and development company Blocksphere, and the blockchain development team at Blockzero. This technology is backed by an MoU with Kilt.io — the KILT Protocol being used to incorporate lab and hospital credentials into the ecosystem.
Degenics provides a platform connecting privacy-conscious users and providers of genetic testing services from laboratories up to DIY PCR enthusiasts, to deliver raw genomic analysis, disease and mutation detection, exercise, and diet recommendation, as part of a broader range of possible health and lifestyle-oriented insights.
On the 18th of February 2021, Degenics became part of the Decentralized Bio Network as the start of a larger initiative to provide a data platform and marketplace for biomedical testing in general.
Owning and securing your Biomedical Data
Personal genetic testing is a flourishing trend, with a market cap worth $12 billion and predicted to grow to $ 21 billion by 2027. In the wake of this, concerns have started to appear regarding DNA data mining, personal genetic sovereignty, as well as hacks and data breaches.
The Decentralized Bio Network, through its Degenics dApp, will prevent genetic data misuse, privacy violations, security problems, and the practice of selling genetic data without consent. Using cryptography together with DLT technology, it makes sure that users can not only order tests and insights anonymously, but also store data on a decentralized platform in a way that makes unauthorized access virtually impossible.
Opening a Decentralized Market for Labs and Hospitals
Current events have demonstrated that even the largest laboratories require collaboration (Ref: Sanofi teams up with BioNTech and Pfizer to help fix Europe’s vaccine shortage – MarketWatch). The Covid-19 pandemic has highlighted the need for platforms that assist in interlab collaborations — whether for research or go-to-market strategies.
The Decentralized Bio Network allows laboratories, hospitals, and other structures providing medical testing equipment to digitally offer biomedical testing products with a “marketplace” paradigm. This collaboration is aimed at broadening the spectrum of services available to users, increasing the profitability of medical testing equipment.
Technology and development.
The Decentralized Bio Network is relying on Polkadot as a foundation of its DLT technology, which was chosen for its transactional speed (160K Tx/s ++) and its adaptability. Cryptography and a digital to physical bridging mechanism are added to the formula, to grant users maximum privacy even through the physical process of sending samples.
The Network expands Degenics’ concept to use cases outside of the genetic testing market — which may include lab testing for diseases & electronic medical record data sharing.
To develop its platform, it is working together with Blocksphere, a Gartner-listed Blockchain consulting and development company, and Blockzero, a Malaysian blockchain development, and marketing company.
Call to Action
The Decentralized Bio Network calls for laboratories to register for the closed beta system test via debio.network/degenics. Those interested in trying the application can go to demo.degenics.com.
More information regarding the Network can be found at debio.network.
Contact Details:
Pandu Sastrowardoyo (Initiator)
p@degenics.com
