Pharmacogenomics for Precision Medicine in the Era of Collaborative Co-creation and Crowdsourcing

Abstract The whole gamut of new technologies in the past decade has revolutionized DNA sequencing, making it cheaper, efficient, and scalable. The consequent big-data in genomics have posed new challenges and opportunities. The transformation of internet as a fabric that intertwines multiple technological and social layers and the rise of platforms that can organize and integrate massively parallel human activities have transformed the workplaces in many industries and offers a new opportunity in the area of genomics. In this short review, we discuss the state-of-the art of crowdsourcing in genomics research with special focus on pharmacogenomics. We discuss the field, starting with an overview of technology and the major challenges. We also discuss a number of ongoing crowdsourcing approaches in the area of pharmacogenomics and personal genomics. We conclude with deliberating on the issues in genomics and how crowdsourcing could offer a plausible alternative to conventional approaches in genomics.