'Secret sharing': Researchers say they've found way to better encrypt genetic data

WASHINGTON – Using nothing more than a simple vial of saliva, millions of people have created DNA profiles on genealogy websites. But this wealth of information is effectively inaccessible to genetics researchers, with the sites painstakingly safeguarding their databases, fearful of a leak that could cost them dearly in terms of credibility. This problem of access is one that Bonnie Berger, a professor of mathematics at Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and her colleagues think they can solve, with a new cryptographic system to protect the information. "We're currently at a stalemate in sharing all this genomic data," Berger told AFP. "It's really hard for researchers to get any of their data, so they're not really helping science. "No one can gain access to help them find the link between genetic variations and disease," she said. "But just think what could happen if we could leverage the millions of genomes out there." The idea of this new cryptographic method, described ...