ProtChain: A Blockchain-based Proteomic Data Storage System with Bioinformatics Integration
Paper Title: ProtChain: A Blockchain-based Proteomic Data Storage System with Bioinformatics Integration
Journal Name: Blockchain: Research and Applications
Abstract: The integration and management of proteomic data face challenges due to diverse formats, centralized storage, and limited interoperability between platforms. Existing solutions, such as PDB and UniProt, improve centralization and standardization but lack scalability, security, and decentralized sharing capabilities. This study introduces ProtChain, a blockchain-based framework utilizing Hyperledger Fabric and IPFS to address these issues. ProtChain integrates microservices for API connectivity, encryption, and access control, enabling secure data sharing and interoperability with bioinformatics systems. Performance evaluation, including Locust load tests and Hyperledger Caliper benchmarking, demonstrated scalability with peak throughputs of 197 TPS (1,000 TxNum) and 206.6 TPS (2,000 TxNum), alongside stable latency. Using human insulin protein as a test case, ProtChain validated on-chain and off-chain synchronization, ensuring data integrity and traceability. Future work will enhance real-time protein data uploads, robustness for large datasets, and applications in drug development, advancing secure, scalable proteomics research