AWS Public Sector Blog
Category: Life Sciences
Complying with updated NIH Genomic Data Sharing policies on AWS
The National Institutes of Health (NIH) has long maintained guidelines governing the responsible management of controlled access human genomic and phenotypic data maintained in NIH-designated data repositories. Recently, the NIH updated these guidelines to align with the NIST SP 800-171 security standard, which defines a comprehensive framework for securing Controlled Unclassified Information (CUI). In this blog post, we will explore the specifics of the updated NIH guidance and outline how Amazon Web Services (AWS) can help customers build a compliant environment to meet these requirements.
Powering Singapore’s genomic research with AWS and Illumina
Precision medicine is a data-driven approach that considers individual variations in genetics to allow healthcare professionals to more accurately predict, prevent, diagnose, or treat different groups of people. As part of ongoing research to advance genomic research in Singapore, companies like Amazon Web Services (AWS) and Illumina play a pivotal role in genome sequencing and analysis, and providing the tools and technology needed to analyse large-scale genomic datasets to help decode the risk factors for certain Asian-specific chronic diseases.
39 new or updated datasets available on the Registry of Open Data on AWS
The AWS Open Data Sponsorship Program makes high-value, cloud-optimized datasets publicly available on Amazon Web Services (AWS). AWS works with data providers to democratize access to data by making it available to the public for analysis on AWS; develop new cloud-based techniques, formats, and tools that lower the cost of working with data; and encourage the development of communities that benefit from access to shared datasets. Through this program, customers are making over 100 petabytes (PB) of high-value, cloud-optimized data available for public use. This quarter, AWS released 39 new or updated datasets.
Highlights from the AWS re:Invent 2024 Public Sector Innovation Session
During AWS re:Invent 2024, an Innovation Session presented by Worldwide Public Sector Vice President Dave Levy illustrated how AWS empowers customers to innovate and tackle critical challenges faster and more efficiently using cloud technology and generative artificial intelligence (AI). Take a few minutes to read this post and learn more about the transformative initiatives, inspiring customer stories, and technological developments that help AWS public sector customers improve life on Earth.
AWS supports ARPA-H Sprint for Women’s Health to advance crucial research and solutions
At Amazon Web Services (AWS), we believe in the power of cloud technology to transform healthcare and improve lives. Because of this, at AWS re:Invent 2024 we announced a commitment of up to $2 million in AWS credits to help four Advanced Research Projects Agency for Health (ARPA-H) Sprint for Women’s Health launchpad awardees address critical unmet challenges in women’s health.
Announcing the 2024-2025 AWS IMAGINE Grant winners
The year 2024 was filled with both excitement and thoughtful consideration in the nonprofit sector as the world seeks to understand and apply transformative cloud technologies such as generative artificial intelligence (AI) to enhance impact and increase productivity. Amazon Web Services (AWS) is privileged to work alongside organizations in the social sector who are using these tools for the benefit of people and our planet, and who are leading conversations about how to do it responsibly. We’re proud to announce that many of those organizations are AWS IMAGINE Grant winners, representing our largest cohort of recipients to date.
The Institut Pasteur is creating a searchable DNA database of all life on Earth using AWS
Where will the next pandemic-causing virus come from? The answer to this pressing question is locked away in the immense diversity of DNA carried around by life on Earth. A research team located at the Institut Pasteur, a Paris-based leading international research organization, plans to break into that vault of knowledge with IndexThePlanet. Read this post to learn more about the project, which aims to index the DNA of all living organisms, identify previously unknown viruses species, and create a DNA search engine.
Getting drugs to market faster through better health data management on AWS
In this post, we explore how healthcare and life sciences organizations can embrace the data mesh and data as a product (DaaP) principles to unlock the full potential of their health data, drive faster and more efficient drug development, and ultimately, bring life-saving treatments to patients more quickly. We also showcase the Amazon Web Services (AWS) services that support the journey towards effective data management and alignment with data mesh principles.
AWS helps Genomics England’s Multimodal programme accelerate research with whole slide images
Pathologists have been looking at morphological patterns in patients’ tissue sections highlighted by hematoxylin and eosin (H&E) staining for more than a century. However, as the pathology transformation from glass slides to digital imaging gains momentum, it opens the door to artificial intelligence (AI) tools to complement expert assessment with quantitative measurements to enable data-driven medicine. Yet, challenges remain with handling digital imaging files such as storage and pre-processing prior to application of AI tools. Genomics England have utilised Amazon Web Services (AWS) and tools such as Amazon SageMaker to demonstrate how to prepare digital pathology images for research and the development of machine learning models.
Reimagining person-centered health and care with cloud-enabled technologies
Amazon Web Services (AWS) advanced technologies can help reimagine the way healthcare entities deliver person-centered care. Technologies such as generative artificial intelligence (AI) and the ability to manage petabytes (PB) of data help companies achieve actionable insights that improve care. They can drive the ability to build new care models, improve the human experience in their health and care process, and enable clinical professionals to practice at the top of their licenses. In this blog post, I describe some ways AWS helps companies reimagine the delivery of health and care.