Data management and informatics

Servers for data storage

The ambition within Genomic Medicine Sweden (GMS) is to analyse up to 65,000 samples per year by 2023, covering the majority of patients with rare diseases and cancer.

To ensure that we can realize the full potential of genetic data produced within healthcare, one of our main aims during the initial phase of GMS is to establish a national informatics infrastructure. This infrastructure will enable a unified analysis, interpretation and sharing of genetic data in Sweden, whilst also providing secure storage. A key aspect of this work will be ensuring that data can be shared at a national and international level whilst respecting the personal integrity of Swedish patients and operating according to regulations covering data protection.

Sweden currently lacks a coordinated national solution for the storage and sharing of patients’ genetic data between the country’s 21 regional healthcare authorities. The national informatics infrastructure will allow for the secure storage and sharing of genetic data between the seven Genomic Medicine Centers (GMC) that together cover all of Sweden´s healthcare regions. The work will be carried out in the form of pilot studies that will then be scaled up and rolled out nationally.

GMS aims to establish a national database of genetic variants. The database will be available for healthcare providers and researchers provided that the necessary ethical approvals have been secured and that data is handled according to governing laws and regulations. The opportunity to combine this information with Sweden’s extensive national disease registers and biobanks will be an invaluable resource for research, potentially leading to new discoveries and breakthroughs in precision medicine.