Biophysical Immunology Lab at the University of Oxford encrypts information exchange in research

The project at a glance

Secure collaboration beyond campus boundaries
Tresorit empowers BPI researchers to exchange research data securely and instantly, ensuring automatic backups and smoother teamwork. Gone are the days of hauling USBs and hard drives across labs or even continents, or spending hours merging file versions. Today, researchers collaborate more efficiently, knowing that sensitive data remains secure and private.

Company

Global excellence in medical research
The BPI Lab is located at the University of Oxford, which is globally renowned for its academic and research excellence. The University of Oxford holds the second spot globally for medical research in the 2024 QS World University Rankings, with an impressive score of 95.4/100.

The challenge

Widespread collaboration
The BPI Lab’s success in research and teaching relies on collaboration – between its own departments and with other research institutions, as well as healthcare organizations. Its research team maintains connections with partner institutes across the UK, U.S, and Europe.

However, managing such widespread collaborations presents unique challenges as well.

Managing sensitive data
The research projects involve handling sensitive data while coordinating efforts across multiple collaborators. “On a daily basis, we need to move data between different locations, buildings, and labs that don’t necessarily have communications structures in place to define how data should be moved from one lab to the other. (…) We also collaborate with partner universities across the globe for which we need tools that are efficient and secure alike. In essence, it is always about valuable knowledge that we want to and must protect,” explains Professor Fritzsche.

Cumbersome backup and file consolidation
Before adopting Tresorit, the BPI Lab faced logistical hurdles. Data transfer often required physical media such as USB drives or hard disks. And backups depended on custom scripts and unreliable manual practices, as Professor Fritzsche recalls:

“I remember carrying hard drives when flying to the US with data to safely share information in person with our collaborators. I even wrote my own backup script to make sure nothing was lost, and I had to trust others to do the same. Now, with Tresorit, it’s fantastic – you just upload the data and it’s always available. There’s no need to worry about backups anymore.”

On top of that, collaboration often meant hours spent combining file versions and merging comments. For researchers, juggling complex projects, this was time they simply couldn’t afford to lose.

Requirements

Global research context
Professor Fritzsche was searching for a solution that would speed up the secure exchange and joint editing of files across labs and beyond while ensuring the automatic backup of critical data.

Besides that, scientific work requires a simple way to exchange ideas and co-create research papers, without the risk of losing valuable file versions. The software needed to offer an intuitive interface that would allow researchers to focus on their work without dealing with technical hurdles.

Given the regulated nature of research data, compliance is also a critical requirement. The solution must comply with the university’s strict data protection policies and broader compliance requirements for encryption and server location.

Execution and implementation

8 years of Tresorit
In 2015, Tresorit caught Professor Fritzsche’s attention, and it didn’t take long to win him over: “The combination of stable hardware and an uncompromising encryption concept immediately convinced me.”

Tresorit has been instrumental for safeguarding and streamlining their collaboration. Collaborators receive their own account and can directly access and edit joint project files.

A well-organized folder structure – including a main backup folder, dedicated project folders, and personal folders – makes it easy for users to locate the information they need.

Results and feedback

Easier, safer, faster
Data exchange, collaboration, backup—the entire data management is now easier, safer, and faster, according to the professor, and this naturally translates into cost savings.

“Tresorit really is a safe space for the BPI Lab”, states Prof. Fritzsche. Everybody can feel confident that the data is secure and automatically updated. A great example is the scientific manuscript we produce at the end of each project. I remember sending around comments, retyping, and recombining them, which used to take half a day. Now, I don’t need to dedicate those hours to merging versions. With Tresorit, we can seamlessly work on the same document across time zones.”

Outlook

From data hub to official platform
At the moment, Tresorit serves as a data hub for research in the BPI Lab. Looking ahead, the platform will become even more important as the number of collaborations continues to grow.