Privacy Policy
Last updated: 22 June 2026
Knovo ("Knovo", "we", "us") publishes interactive, source-grounded explainers in structural and molecular biology, molecular pharmacology, and de novo protein and drug design. This policy explains what data we process and why. It covers three kinds of people: public readers (anyone browsing the site), reader-account holders (readers who choose to sign in to save, comment, or subscribe), and administrators (the small number of trusted accounts that review and publish content).
Public readers
Reading published explainers is open and account-free. You do not need to sign in to browse or read.
- No advertising or tracking cookies. We do not set marketing or cross-site tracking cookies for readers.
- Operational data. Our hosting provider (Vercel) processes standard request metadata (such as IP address and user agent) to serve pages and protect the service. This is ordinary server logging, not profiling.
Reader accounts
Saving an explainer, posting a comment, or subscribing to new explainers requires a reader account. Reader accounts are optional and are created by signing in with Google (via Supabase Authentication). For account holders we process:
- Identity from Google OAuth: your email address, name, and profile picture, used to create your account and to show your name and avatar next to comments you post.
- A profile record stored in our Supabase database (email, display name, avatar URL).
- Your activity: the explainers you bookmark, the comments you post, and your subscription preference. Comments are public — your display name and avatar are shown alongside them to anyone viewing that explainer. Bookmarks and your subscription are private to you.
- Session cookies that keep you signed in.
We may hide or remove comments that violate our Terms. We do not sell reader data or use it for advertising. You can delete your own comments at any time; to delete your account or other data, contact us below.
Administrators
Administrators sign in with Google via Supabase Authentication. For these accounts we process:
- Identity from Google OAuth: your email address, name, and basic Google profile information, used solely to authenticate you and authorize the admin role.
- A profile record stored in our Supabase database (email and role), used to gate access to the admin review tools.
- Session cookies that keep you signed in. These exist only for signed-in administrators.
We do not use administrator data for marketing and we do not sell it.
Content and sources
Published explainers cite primary scientific sources from public databases — the Protein Data Bank (PDB), ChEMBL, PubMed, and bioRxiv. This source material is scientific data and does not contain your personal information.
Service providers (subprocessors)
We rely on a small set of providers to operate Knovo:
- Supabase — database and authentication.
- Vercel — application hosting and delivery.
- Google — OAuth sign-in for readers and administrators.
Each processes data only to provide its service to us.
Security
Access to data is enforced at the database layer with row-level security, and elevated credentials are confined to the server and never exposed to browsers. No system is perfectly secure, but we design Knovo around least-privilege access.
Data retention
We keep reader- and administrator-account profile records, and reader contributions (bookmarks, comments, subscriptions), for as long as the account is active or until you delete them. Operational logs are retained by our providers for limited periods under their own policies.
Your rights
Depending on where you live, you may have rights to access, correct, or delete personal data we hold about you, or to object to its processing. To make a request, contact us using the details below.
Children
Knovo is intended for researchers and professionals and is not directed to children.
Changes
We may update this policy as Knovo evolves. Material changes will be reflected by the "last updated" date above.
Contact
Questions about this policy: privacy@knovo.ai.