Amazon Biobank - A community-based genetic database

Abstract

In regions like the Amazon Rainforest, there is much unexplored biodiversity data that could potentially be used to promote innovative biotechnology developments. Building a biobank with such genetic data is, however, a challenge. One reason is that existing repositories (e.g., NCBI) lack clear incentives for collaboration. Aiming to tackle this issue, and promote a biodiversity-based economy in the Amazon region, in this work we present a prototype for the Amazon Biobank, a community-based genetic database. Leveraging blockchain, smart contracts, and peer-to-peer technologies, we build a collaborative and highly scalable repository. It also enables monetary incentives for users who insert, store, process, validate and share DNA data.