DNAstack named Company of the Year by Life Sciences Ontario
News
February 10, 2023

Award recognizes Toronto company’s global impact on genomics and health research.Toronto, Ontario — Today DNAstack was named 2023 Company of the Year by Life Sciences Ontario (LSO). The award celebrates DNAstack’s breakthrough software platform, which enables AI-powered insights across distributed genomics and health data. The platform is being used to support global pandemic surveillance and to advance better outcomes in neuroscience, oncology, and rare disease. The LSO Company of the Year award is given to an outstanding Ontario-based company that has demonstrated strong leadership in advancing innovative technology in the life sciences. DNAstack was also recently selected for the Technology Pioneer Award by the World Economic Forum as one of the world’s most innovative companies.The timing of this innovation could not be better, as stakeholders across the industry — including government, funders, academics, pharma, hospitals, and citizens — demand more impactful use of national genomics and health data. Health data are large, sensitive, and regulated, and as a result are often siloed and disconnected across different software systems, institutions, provinces, and countries. DNAstack directly addresses this challenge by making it possible to connect and derive insights across federated networks without needing to move data. This makes it possible for collaborators to work together to analyze larger volumes of more diverse datasets while protecting patient privacy. This technology is breaking through traditional barriers and aligning stakeholders across institutional, provincial, and national boundaries to collaborate on common goals — from tracking the evolution of emerging pathogens, to understanding the molecular causes of disease, optimizing diagnostic and treatment pathways, and measuring the efficacy of national healthcare delivery.“DNAstack has re-imagined the future of discovery in genomics and health,” said Jason Field, CEO of LSO. “Their approach to driving insights across national and international data networks in a privacy preserving way promises to modernize health data management and accelerate discoveries by innovators across the life sciences ecosystem.”“Ontario is home to world-leading expertise in genomics research and AI. We are honoured to be recognized by the LSO as Company of the Year,” said Marc Fiume, CEO of DNAstack. “With this technology, we are re-thinking the use of genomics health data in a way that is more scalable, secure, sovereign, and impactful. This is a significant step in our mission to save and improve lives by unlocking the collective power of the world’s genomics and health data.”About DNAstackDNAstack is a Toronto-based company whose mission is to save and improve lives by unlocking the collective power of the world’s genomics and health data. DNAstack’s software platform enables a global community of stakeholders — including precision medicine initiatives, research consortiums, patient advocacy groups, hospitals, startups, funders, pharma companies, governments, and citizens — to connect and analyze distributed datasets without moving them. DNAstack played an important role supporting provincial and national responses to COVID, where it partnered with the Province of Ontario and Genome Canada to provide a solution called Viral AI to help identify, track, and model the spread of variants of concern. DNAstack is a global leader in the development of open, interoperable standards as part of the Global Alliance for Genomics & Health (GA4GH) and has led multiple collaborative technology innovation projects as part of the Digital Supercluster.About Life Sciences OntarioLife Sciences Ontario is a member-driven organization that represents and promotes the province’s vibrant and diverse life sciences sector. LSO collaborates with governments, academia, industry, and other life science organizations in Ontario and across Canada to promote and encourage commercial success throughout the sector. Membership in Life Sciences Ontario includes individuals, students, emerging companies, investors, service providers, and companies with marketed products. The organization provides a wide range of networking and educational events, and operates a mentorship program that is helping to develop highly-skilled talent and build new business opportunities for the life sciences sector. LSO is an effective conduit for delivering policy options to governments, and is dedicated to promoting Ontario’s life sciences sector internationally..