Seeding Australian regulation of genomics in the cloud

Elizabeth Abbott, Thomas Faunce*

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

1 Citation (Scopus)

Abstract

Cloud computing has facilitated a revolution in genome sequencing. As big data and personalised medicine increase in popularity in Australia, are the legal and regulatory regimes surrounding this nascent area of scientific research and clinical practice able to protect this private information? An examination of the current regulatory regime in Australia, including the Privacy Act 1988 (Cth) and medical research laws that govern cloud-based genomics research highlights that the key challenge of such research is to protect the interests of participants while also promoting collaborative research processes. This examination also highlights the potential effect that the Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement's Electronic Commerce Chapter may have had on using the cloud for genomics and what the consequences may have been for researchers, clinicians and individuals. Lessons learnt here will be relevant to studying similar impacts from other trade and investment agreements such as the Trade in Services Agreement (TiSA).

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)314-336
Number of pages23
JournalJournal of law and medicine
Volume24
Issue number2
Publication statusPublished - 2016

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