A question of security


For functionality and security for externalised research, software providers have turned to the cloud, writes


Sophia Ktori


officer at Core Informatics: ‘Contract research organisations (CROs), small biotechs, and other niche organisations oſten offer defined services that pharma customers do not have available in-house. Tese could be anything from sample analytics, to small molecule chemistry, antibody discovery, or biologics screening in the emerging biologics space. ‘Alternatively, the sponsor company may be


A


providing funding for, or collaborating with an academic or industrial partner that has scientific expertise in a research area relevant to a particular biological pathway or drug target. Another possibility is a true collaborative research program, through which the partners are sharing or developing IP – possibly for multiple projects.’ Whatever the relationship between parties,


the major concerns about collaborations are, understandably, centred on data security, and particularly tracking sensitive data, ensuring it remains secure and that its integrity isn’t compromised. ‘It’s important that only authorised people in each partner organisation can see the data,’ Cronin continues. ‘Whenever we are involved in conversations with our clients, the topic inevitably turns to secure information exchange. Scientists commonly use email for the exchange of Word, Excel,


4 SCIENTIFIC COMPUTING WORLD


greements for externalised and collaborative research can take a variety of structures, explains Kevin Cronin, chief commercial


Powerpoint and PDF documents – these methods are not secure and further lead to inconsistent sharing of information. It is hard to keep track of who has sent what data, and who has received and potentially passed on that information.’ Some organisations may choose to send


or receive data in a format that summarises information to ‘play it safe’ and minimise issues with insecure transfer of information. However, summarised data oſten cannot be used to support decision making, Cronin suggests: ‘If scientific organisations are to derive the maximum value from their collaborations or outsourced work, they need to be able to work together across systems that provide secure data exchange, and the ability to share and analyse data directly with their partners or service providers to accelerate outcomes.’ To meet the needs of both functionality


and security for externalised research, soſtware providers have turned to the cloud. ‘Cloud-based packages offer partners a way to exchange data, through a web browser, in a secure environment,’ Cronin stresses. Core Informatics offers its own Core Collaboration solution as a cloud-based environment for partners or outsourced research and scientific service providers to share data, workflows and applications. Sited on the Amazon Web Services (AWS) cloud, Core Collaboration allows users to set up and disassemble single or multitenant deployments of the soſtware easily and swiſtly, to allow partners access to defined levels of data. Cronin adds: ‘Customers can set up the security and access levels for individuals or groups, and transfer packets of data or enforce consistent workflows and data collection procedures, as appropriate.’ Because cloud solutions for collaborative


research are typically provided as a soſtware as a service (SaaS), the upfront and IT investment


costs are far lower than they typically might be for an on-premises platform, even an out-of-the box solution, Cronin points out. ‘With cloud-based soſtware the total cost of ownership is not front and centre.’ Customers can essentially configure the


required security permissions and access to functionality to fit their needs, as well as the needs of the collaborators: ‘Our cloud solutions are easily configurable without the need for custom coding. Tis means that we can use our marketplace of applications as building blocks for common workflows, such as high- throughput screening for biologics, or next generation sequencing, which may form part of that outsourced or collaborative work.’ Another overarching problem when


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