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Bastian is a “lapsed evolutionary biologist-turned-bioinformatician”. He’s currently working on his PhD in applied bioinformatics at the Goethe University in Frankfurt, Germany. At least this is what he’s doing by day. By night, he takes out his open data cape and works on openSNP.

As companies offering personal genetic testing are growing rapidly, so is the potential for scientific discoveries by repurposing their data. Nearly 2 million people already submitted samples and got their own genome decoded. But where is the data? With openSNP, Bastian wants to provide anyone with a platform where they can share their genome, to either get rid of their last bit of genetic privacy or revolutionize how science is done.

At Lift Basel, Bastian will discuss the multitude of effects, the surprises both good and bad that happen when genome data is not stored in locked-down databases but is made readily available to a new breed of citizen scientists.