Quorum-based model learning on a blockchain hierarchical clinical research network using smart contracts

Objective We aimed to develop a distributed, immutable, and highly available cross-cloud blockchain system to facilitate federated data analysis activities among multiple institutions. Materials and Methods We pre-processed 9,166 COVID-19 Structured Query Language (SQL) code, summary statistics, and user activity logs, from the GitHub repository of the Reliable Response Data Discovery for COVID-19 (R2D2) Consortium. The repository collected local summary statistics from participating institutions and aggregated the global result to a COVID-19-related clinical query, previously posted by clinicians on a website. We developed both on-chain and off-chain components to store/query these activity logs and their associated queries/results on a blockchain for immutability, transparency, and high availability of research communication. We measured run-time efficiency of contract deployment, network transactions, and confirmed the accuracy of recorded logs compared to a centralized baseline solution. Results The smart contract deployment took 4.5 seconds on average. The time to record an activity log on blockchain was slightly over 2 seconds, versus 5-9 seconds for baseline. For querying, each query took on average less than 0.4 seconds on blockchain, versus around 2.1 seconds for baseline. Discussion The low deployment, recording, and querying times confirm the feasibility of our cross-cloud, blockchain-based federated data analysis system. We have yet to evaluate the system on a larger network with multiple nodes per cloud, to consider how to accommodate a surge in activities, and to investigate methods to lower querying time as the blockchain grows. Conclusion Blockchain technology can be used to support federated data analysis among multiple institutions.

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Quorum-based model learning on a blockchain hierarchical clinical research network using smart contracts

Cited by 8 publications

References 34 publications

Amalgamation of Blockchain with resource-constrained IoT devices for healthcare applications – State of art, challenges and future directions

Amalgamation of Blockchain with resource-constrained IoT devices for healthcare applications – State of art, challenges and future directions

WebQuorumChain: A web framework for quorum-based health care model learning

Blockchain-enabled immutable, distributed, and highly available clinical research activity logging system for federated COVID-19 data analysis from multiple institutions

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