Utilising Filecoin for Secure Cardiovascular Research Data Storage

Heart disease is a global health crisis, claiming more lives than any other single disease and remaining the leading cause of death in many countries, including Australia. The Victor Chang Cardiac Research Institute, established in honour of renowned heart transplant surgeon Dr. Victor Chang AC, is at the forefront of medical research in the fight against heart disease. This article explores how the institute has harnessed the power of Filecoin, a decentralised storage network, for secure cardiovascular research data storage.

The Challenge: Growing Data Needs in Cardiovascular Research

With a dedicated team of over 230 scientists, doctors, and staff across 23 laboratories, the Victor Chang Cardiac Research Institute generates a vast amount of research data. The tools and instruments used in their studies, like the SyncroPatch machine for studying cellular currents, produce increasingly large datasets. For instance, the SyncroPatch machine alone generates a staggering 20,000 data points per day. Managing and preserving terabytes of data generated weekly has become a pressing challenge, specifically in the realm of cardiovascular research data storage.

Furthermore, the institute’s commitment to transparency and collaboration demands that they share their research data with third parties to verify their findings. Ensuring data integrity is paramount, especially for the raw datasets that underpin their published papers in the field of cardiovascular research data storage.

The Solution: Decentralised Storage

To address these challenges, the Victor Chang Cardiac Research Institute turned to Filecoin, a decentralised storage network renowned for its data integrity, scalability, and cost-effectiveness.

Filecoin’s Role in Ensuring Data Integrity

Filecoin leverages cryptographic proofs to guarantee data integrity for their cardiovascular research data storage needs. These proofs provide mathematical evidence that data stored on the network remains unaltered and authentic, a crucial aspect when dealing with sensitive cardiovascular research data. This feature allows the Victor Chang Institute to regularly verify their research data, detecting any corruption or tampering and ensuring the accuracy and reliability of their data.

Additionally, Filecoin employs unique content identifiers (CIDs) for content addressing, ensuring that data integrity remains intact for cardiovascular research data storage. Any modifications to the data would result in a different CID. This approach offers strong assurances of data integrity, which is essential when storing data for published papers and critical research.

Scalability and Cost-Effectiveness of Decentralised Storage

Decentralised storage solutions like Filecoin are highly scalable, allowing the institute to expand storage capacity effortlessly as their research data grows. Unlike expensive centralized storage options that require significant upfront investments, Filecoin eliminates the need for costly infrastructure maintenance and upgrades. Storage resources are distributed across multiple nodes, reducing the risk of a single point of failure.

Moreover, the cost-effectiveness of Filecoin is a game-changer for cardiovascular research data storage. Storing the institute’s current data on a public cloud would cost approximately $1,500+ per month, excluding operational and data transfer fees. Thanks to Filecoin’s network incentives, the Victor Chang Institute can store data at a fraction of the cost, relieving the financial strain on a non-profit research institution.

Conclusion

The Victor Chang Cardiac Research Institute’s use of the Filecoin network has revolutionized their data management practices. Filecoin’s emphasis on data integrity, scalability, and cost-effectiveness has provided a solution to the institute’s challenges in handling large datasets generated by cutting-edge medical instruments.

By using Filecoin, the institute can store their cardiovascular research data securely, ensuring its accuracy and authenticity. The decentralised storage network also offers the flexibility to adapt to their growing data needs. Ultimately, Filecoin has empowered the Victor Chang Cardiac Research Institute to advance their research into heart disease, facilitating collaboration with the global scientific community and bringing hope to countless patients worldwide.

Note: The Victor Change Cardiac Research Institute partnered with Distributed Storage Solutions (DSS) to provide this decentralised data solution. Holon was proud to have partnered with DSS to provide node replication for this project.

Disclaimer: This Article has been prepared by Holon Global Investments Limited ABN 60 129 237 592. Holon Global Innovations Pty Ltd (“HGI”) is a wholly owned subsidiary of Holon Global Investments Limited (together “Holon”). HGI is a Filecoin (FIL) Storage Provider and is positioned as a major player in the FIL decentralised data storage arena. FIL Storage Providers are rewarded in FIL for the provision of data storage capacity. Holon, its officers, employees and agents believe that the information in this material and the sources on which the information is based (which may be sourced from third parties) are correct as at the date of publication. While every care has been taken in the preparation of this material, no warranty of accuracy or reliability is given and no responsibility for this information is accepted by Holon, its officers, employees or agents. Except where contrary to law, Holon excludes all liability for this information.