Globus provides researchers with a fast, reliable, and secure way to transfer and share sensitive data, particularly for cancer research, overcoming challenges associated with large-scale data sharing. It offers features like secure file transfer, intuitive web interfaces, and advanced identity management while ensuring compliance with security requirements for human research data. With over 20,000 users, Globus is utilized across numerous leading research institutions to manage and share large datasets efficiently.

1. How Globus works
Researcher initiates
transfer request; or
requested automatically
by script, science
gateway
1
Instrument
Compute Facility
Globus transfers files
reliably, securely
2
Globus controls
access to shared
files on existing
storage; no need
to move files to
cloud storage!
4
Researcher
selects files to
share, selects
user or group,
and sets access
permissions
3
Collaborator logs in to
Globus and accesses
shared files; no local
account required;
download via Globus
5
Personal Computer
Transfer
Share
• Use a Web browser or
platform services
• Access any storage
• Use an existing identity
Globus provides
researchers a fast,
reliable, and secure
way to move and
share sensitive data.
Streamlined sharing of
clinical patient data for
cancer research networks
Brigitte E. Raumann1 and Ian T. Foster1, 2
1Globus, University of Chicago
2Department of Computer Science
University of Chicago
We thank the Globus team for implementing and operating Globus services. Globus products
and services are developed and operated by the University of Chicago and supported by
funding from the Department of Energy, the National Science Foundation, the National
Institutes of Health, the National Institute of Standards and Technology, and the Alfred P.
Sloan Foundation. We also thank Globus subscribers for supporting the operation and
development of Globus, and users of Globus services for their continued support.
Challenge
Advances in genomics and data analytics create new
opportunities to advance cancer research via large-scale
sharing of genomic, clinical, imaging and other data types from
patients across institutions around the world. Yet these
opportunities are often stymied by a lack of tools for the
reliable, secure, rapid, and easy transfer and sharing of large
collections of human research data. In the absence of such
tools, security and performance concerns often force
researchers to resort to slow and error prone shipping of
physical media, or worse still, prevent sharing altogether. If data
are received, timely analysis is further impeded by the
difficulties inherent in verifying data integrity and managing
who can access data and for what purpose.
Solution
Globus addresses these obstacles to data management in data-
intensive cancer research by providing
• Secure, high-quality services to move, replicate, synchronize,
and share data sets.
• Intuitive, web-based interfaces.
• High reliability and speed, thanks to integrated monitoring,
failure recovery, and optimization.
• A command line interface for automation and simple REST
application programming interfaces (APIs), allowing
developers to provide robust file transfer and sharing
capabilities within their own research data applications and
services.
• Advanced identity management, single sign-on, and
authorization and authentication capabilities.
• Encryption in transit, auditing, access control, and other
features are provided to meet the security requirements of
human research data and HIPAA.
• By researchers for researchers
Globus capabilities are widely used to move, update, share,
and synchronize large data in distributed environments. It is
purpose built to serve the non-profit research community.
Globus provides
researchers a fast,
reliable, and secure
way to move and
share sensitive data.
RCC
Applications
Globus is widely used in the research community, with over
20,000 users in the past year, representing most leading US
universities, national laboratories, and many sites overseas.
Globus capabilities are ideal for managing the voluminous
datasets produced by next generation sequencing and the
many biomedical imaging modalities, data types especially
relevant in cancer research. Our technology has been applied in
a variety of biomedical research contexts where science can be
accelerated with rapid, reliable, and secure data transfer and
sharing, such as collaborative networks, sequencing and
imaging facilities, data portals, campus computing clusters,
supercomputers, and public and private clouds
Research Computing HPC
Desktop Workstations
Mass Storage Instruments
Personal Resources
Public Cloud
National Resources
I need to move or replicate data between systems.
I need to move or replicate data between systems.
Analysis
store
Next-Gen Sequencer
MRI
Advanced Light Source
Personal system
Remote visualization
High-durability,
low-cost store
Light Sheet Microscope
I need to get data from instrument to analysis system.
Cryo-EM
Public / private cloud stores
External
campus
storage
EC2
Project
repositories,
replication stores
Public repositories
I need to share my data with my colleagues.
I need to get data from instrument to analysis system.
I need to share my data with my colleagues.
Researchers have a unified view of all of their data, whether at
campus computing centers, national resources, lab servers,
cloud providers, instrument facilities, or on their laptop.
Instrument facilities have a fast, secure, automated mechanism
to distribute data to their users, without needing to create a
new account for each user.
Investigators can safely share data directly from where the
data are stored, without needed to upload data to the cloud.
Use a Web browser to access
your data wherever it is.
Share your data with your
colleagues using their
existing identities.