Unlocking the power of donor samples

The platform lets researchers quickly search and request biological samples

Spotted: Finding treatments for the world’s most severe illnesses requires rigorous testing, and that testing relies on the millions of biological samples collected from donors around the world. Once these samples are taken, however, they enter something of a ‘black box’, with donors unable to trace where and how their specimen has been used, even if it goes on to fuel groundbreaking medical breakthroughs. Now, startup AminoChain wants to bring greater transparency to healthcare – with the help of blockchain.

Inspired by his own experiences of having malignant melanoma and donating a biopsy sample as a child, Caspar Barnes founded AminoChain, a US-based startup that connects medical institutions and facilitates easy data sharing through an online, decentralised network that allows patients to also benefit from the role their donations play in scientific research.

To start, institutions install the company’s Amino Node software, which integrates with the user’s existing electronic medical record and inventory management platforms. The software standardises an institution’s data (without editing it) to make it easy and efficient for different medical bodies to share information and collaborate.

AminoChain’s first application is called the Specimen Center, and serves as a peer-to-peer biological sample marketplace to make it easy and transparent for researchers to access the individual samples they need to conduct potentially life-saving research. Existing biobanks, where these samples are stored, often take months to coordinate licensing and shipping a sample, but Specimen Center streamlines the entire process, allowing biobanks to grant researchers access to their collections and easily preserving the integrity of a sample’s records.

On the marketplace, researchers can easily search for the kind of sample they need, which are all carefully tracked and logged with the relevant information – without compromising patient confidentiality. Crucially, donors are able to track their own donations on the online portal and see exactly where the sample is being used in real time. The platform allows donors to learn from the information their samples generate, as well as earn money back when their donations are sold or commercialised.

AminoChain may be starting with linking biobanks, but Barnes highlights that the blockchain technology can transform more of the healthcare industry, including patient recruitment for clinical trials and clinical trial management. Recently, the company raised $5 million in seed funding led by Andreessen Horowitz (a16z).

Written By: Matilda Cox