Amazon Web Services (AWS) now hosts the Cancer Genome Atlas, one of the largest catalogs of cancer genome data in the world, on its freely accessible cloud platform to make it easier for researchers to access and work with this data. The sheer size of the Cancer Genome Atlas can make it difficult for many researchers to take advantage of, as the computing power and storage capacity necessary to download and use this data can be prohibitively expensive, but a cloud platform like AWS can reduce these barriers. Because the Cancer Genome Atlas contains potentially sensitive patient data, the data set is only available to accredited researchers.
Image: Jer Thorp.