Secure communication of sensitive genomic information using probabilistic data structures

Inventors

BARRUS, Tyler W.

Abstract

Techniques for securely encoding, communicating, and comparing genomic information using probabilistic data structures are provided. In some embodiments, genomic information in a secure computing environment may be encoded and/or anonymized by building a probabilistic data structure that represents sub-strings of the genomic information as members of a set; the probabilistic data structure may then be securely transmitted outside the secure computing environment. In some embodiments, a probabilistic data structure representing sub-strings of sensitive genomic information as members of a set may be received in an unsecure computing environment and may be queried to generate output data indicating whether reference sub-strings are probable members of the set. In some embodiments, querying the probabilistic data structure, and other techniques of analyzing the probabilistic data structure, may be used to determine whether the sensitive genomic information corresponds to an organism associated with the reference genomic information.

Core Innovation

The invention concerns securely communicating genomic information from a secure computing environment to an unsecure computing environment by receiving data representing a nucleic acid sequence and an indicated security level associated with the nucleic acid sequence. The data representing the nucleic acid sequence is divided into a plurality of portions, where each portion represents a sub-string of the nucleic acid sequence, and data representing one or more portions is stored in the secure computing environment. The nucleic acid sequence is encoded by generating, based on the portions, data including a probabilistic data structure that represents each portion as members of a set.

In the encoding, generating the probabilistic data structure comprises setting a pre-defined false-positive probability of the probabilistic data structure. The false-positive probability is set at least in part based on the indicated security level of the data representing the nucleic acid sequence. The encoded nucleic acid sequence is then transmitted, for storage in the unsecure computing environment, including the probabilistic data structure and in association with metadata corresponding to the data representing the nucleic acid sequence.

The invention further supports securely comparing genomic information in the unsecure computing environment using encoded data received from a secure computing environment. Encoded data representing a first nucleic acid sequence comprises a probabilistic data structure that represents a plurality of elements as members of a set, where each element corresponds to a nucleic acid sub-string of the first nucleic acid sequence. Reference nucleic acid sequence data associated with an organism is used to extract plurality sub-strings, query the probabilistic data structure for membership, generate result data indicating membership, and determine whether the first nucleic acid sequence corresponds to the organism based on a predefined threshold of sub-strings indicated as members.

Claims Coverage

Independent claims are provided for secure communication of genomic information, secure comparison of genomic information in an unsecure computing environment, and implementation via a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium. The coverage centers on encoding nucleic acid sub-strings into a probabilistic data structure with a pre-defined false-positive probability tied to an indicated security level, and on querying reference sub-strings and determining organism correspondence via a predefined threshold.

Across the independent claims, the principal inventive concept is representing nucleic acid sequence sub-strings as members of a set using a probabilistic data structure with a pre-defined false-positive probability set at least in part based on an indicated security level for secure communication to an unsecure computing environment, and using membership-query result data and a predefined threshold in unsecure computing to determine correspondence between a first nucleic acid sequence and an organism associated with a reference nucleic acid sequence.

Stated Advantages

Documented Applications

No documented applications found