Genomic data has exponentially grown over the past decade, and continues to increase yearly. The costs for storing this data has likewise increased, and we have implemented policies to distribute the cost burden to labs. This includes licensing an enterprise-level account from a third-party company, Seven Bridges, as a preferred partner for data storage in the cloud.
Data Storage Policies
Data generated by the High-Throughput Genomics and Bioinformatics Shared Resource will be stored locally and accessed through GNomEx for a period of six to twelve months, based on age and storage pressure. After a project expires, data files will be deleted. Therefore, it is up to research labs to store their own data long term. Email notifications are automatically sent to the owner of the GNomEx project and the Principal Investigator one week prior to removal. Files may be recoverable for a short period of time after removal. Most research journals require access to primary data, and this is the responsibility of the investigator to provide this.
Research labs can store their data through either personal, departmental, or commercial facilities. Our recommended storage solution is through Seven Bridges, and if the research lab has an active account, the data will be automatically uploaded to their lab division as a courtesy service prior to deletion.
Cloud Storage In Seven Bridges
In 2018 HCI, High-Throughput Genomics, and Bioinformatics Shared Resource licensed an enterprise-level account with Seven Bridges as a cloud-based bioinformatics provider. Seven Bridges offers secure, PHI-compliant, storage solutions of bioinformatic files through Amazon Web Services (S3 for short-term storage and Glacier for long-term archival storage). Cloud-computing services are also available on the platform; contact us for details. Seven Bridges is accessed through the web or programmatically, and all current University of Utah research labs that use GNomEx are eligible to join.
The Bioinformatic Shared Resource manages the enterprise account, including setting up lab divisions, and automatically uploading expired GNomEx data to the platform prior to removal. GNomEx Project owners and Principal Investigators are notified by email when uploads occur. Contact us for details on obtaining a lab division account for your lab, or if you wish to retire an account.
For users new to the Seven Bridges platform, refer to our usage FAQ for help on using the platform. For more extensive help, please refer to the Seven Bridges knowledge base. Our original transition FAQ is also available.
Seven Bridges fees
Labs are required to pay for their own data storage on the Seven Bridges platform. File storage fees are passed directly from AWS without markup to us. In January 2022, storage and compute charges will be managed directly by the Bioinformatics Shared Resource through internal billing. Any previous payment methods, including POs directly to Seven Bridges, will no longer be used. Failure to pay for storage will result in deletion of all data in the lab division; due to the nature of AWS storage and compliance for handling PHI, deletion is final and unrecoverable.
Please fill out the Seven Bridges Billing form and return the form to us. Charges are billed in quarterly payments. Current and past charges are always available to lab division administrators when logged onto the platform.