The Paris Workshops on Genomic Epidemiology are held every two years to introduce researchers to new methodologies that underpin genomic studies of diseases and other applications in the life sciences. In the last two years, initiatives such as the International Cancer Genome Consortium (ICGC), the Encyclopedia of DNA Elements (ENCODE) and the International Human Epigenome Consortium (IHEC) have created, or they promise to create, a wealth of a new genome-based data for these studies. The volume and complexity of these data, and meeting the objective of applying these in the context of large-scale genetics and genomics studies, requires significant informatics capacity and advanced quantitative analysis methods.

Another significant challenge arising from such recent advances is the need to develop and maintain functional, open databases that adequately and realistically protect the privacy of research participants. Although extensive legislative activity has been engaged, rarely does this consider the context of international biomedical research and database interoperability. This lack of policy and regulatory harmonisation can significantly impede the data sharing that is necessary for translational research in genomics.

The 5th Paris Workshop will review new genomic technologies and methodologies, and issues of applying available data resources in genomic studies. The Workshop will include a P3G Privacy Summit on May 3rdon “Data Sharing and Cloud Computing”, intended to address emerging issues and provide stakeholders with strategic information and key recommendations to develop better-harmonised policies for genomics research.