Lifebit has announced a partnership with Troper Wojcicki Philanthropies (TWP), which deploys philanthropy and mission-related investments in key priority areas including accelerating cancer research.
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Partnership concept.
This collaboration will leverage Lifebit’s innovative platform to launch a secure data analytics and information exchange system in support of TWP’s Lung Cancer Genetics Study, with the goal of accelerating lung cancer research.
“We’re thrilled to join forces with Troper Wojcicki Philanthropies in the fight against lung cancer,” said Dr. Maria Dunford, CEO of Lifebit. “This partnership showcases the power of federated data solutions to accelerate research and uncover actionable insights, ultimately transforming patient outcomes.”
Launched in July 2024 in collaboration with 23andMe and more than 20 lung cancer advocacy organisations, the Lung Cancer Genetics Study aims to build a comprehensive, open-source database of heritable genetics and patient-reported data in lung cancer. The ultimate goal of the study is to better understand the genetics of people diagnosed with lung cancer in order to improve detection, identify better treatments, and one day, find a cure. The study has already enrolled more than 1,500 participants diagnosed with lung cancer and living in the United States through 23andMe’s online research platform, with a goal of enrolling a total of 10,000 participants by July 2027.
Through this partnership, TWP and Lifebit will establish a platform to securely store and manage de-identified health and biomedical data from consenting study participants. By enabling ethical access to these data, the platform will foster collaboration among researchers and support advances in areas of critical unmet need in lung cancer.
Data from the study will be made available to approved researchers through Lifebit’s federated Trusted Research Environment (TRE) starting in summer 2025. Once available on the platform, researchers will be able to request access to datasets by submitting a research proposal detailing the analyses they intend to perform. Patients will be included in the Lung Cancer Genetics Study’s data governance process, including a review of researcher qualifications and research proposals to determine if they are appropriate for the data. The de-identified data from the study will then be made available to approved nonprofit researchers and institutions at no cost. Leveraging Lifebit’s federated technology, deployed on TWP’s Amazon Web Services (AWS) cloud, approved researchers will be empowered to conduct advanced analyses without downloading sensitive data, maintaining compliance with the highest ethical and regulatory standards.
Lung cancer is the number one cause of cancer deaths in both men and women in the United States; in 2020, more people died from lung cancer than breast, colorectal, and prostate cancer combined. Yet, much remains unknown about the disease and its causes. This partnership will enable researchers to harness Lifebit’s platform to analyse vast datasets and uncover genetic and environmental insights into lung cancer while ensuring data privacy and security.
“Troper Wojcicki Philanthropies is committed to driving innovation in lung cancer research,” said Nadia Litterman, director of scientific affairs and partnerships at Troper Wojcicki Philanthropies. “By collaborating with Lifebit and using their platform, we can ensure our study data is secure, scalable, and impactful, empowering researchers to make meaningful advances in cancer research.”