The European Genome–phenome Archive (EGA) is a permanent repository for all types of potentially identifiable genetic and phenotypic data from biomedical research projects. The EGA contains data collected from individuals who have given consent for its use in research, but not for open public distribution. The resource accepts raw data from sequencing, genotyping, transcriptome or epigenetics experiments using next-generation sequencing platforms or array- based technologies. The service can also be used to archive any processed data, such as the locations of individual variations (e.g. SNPs) from the raw data or summary statistics from a particular project. The samples can be associated with phenotype data that have been consented for use in research. The EGA supports pre-publication data release in accordance with the Toronto agreement. The EGA provides secure access to restricted data for authorised researchers and clinicians. In all cases, data access decisions are made by the appropriate DAC and not by the EGA. Links to contact the relevant DAC are provided on each EGA study page. Approved users are issued with a personal EGA account associated with the relevant permissions. A data access agreement made between the DAC and the applicant dictates how data can be used, stored or transferred once it is downloaded from our system.
nucleic acid sequence international nucleotide sequence database collaboration