diff --git a/omicron-karma/.dockerignore b/omicron-karma/.dockerignore
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..f1f0ca7
--- /dev/null
+++ b/omicron-karma/.dockerignore
@@ -0,0 +1,24 @@
+# Ignore common files that shouldn't be included in Docker build context
+.git
+.gitignore
+README.md
+LICENSE
+Makefile
+docker-compose.yml
+*.md
+
+# Ignore temporary files
+*.tmp
+*.temp
+*~
+.DS_Store
+Thumbs.db
+
+# Ignore logs
+*.log
+
+# Ignore IDE files
+.vscode/
+.idea/
+*.swp
+*.swo
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/omicron-karma/Dockerfile b/omicron-karma/Dockerfile
index 2c351d2..2439198 100644
--- a/omicron-karma/Dockerfile
+++ b/omicron-karma/Dockerfile
@@ -7,31 +7,34 @@
 # R 4.5.0, Rock 2.1.1
 FROM datashield/rock-base:6.3.3
 
-ENV DSMEDIATION_VERSION=0.0.3
-ENV DSEXPOSOME_VERSION=2.0.9
-ENV DSTIDYVERSE_VERSION=v1.0.4
-ENV DSOMICS_VERSION=v1.0.18-2
-ENV DSMTL_VERSION=0.9.9
-ENV DSSURVIVAL_VERSION=v2.1.3
-ENV DSBASE_VERSION=6.3.3
+# Set environment variables
+ENV DSMEDIATION_VERSION=0.0.3 \
+    DSEXPOSOME_VERSION=2.0.9 \
+    DSTIDYVERSE_VERSION=v1.0.4 \
+    DSOMICS_VERSION=v1.0.18-2 \
+    DSMTL_VERSION=0.9.9 \
+    DSSURVIVAL_VERSION=v2.1.3 \
+    DSBASE_VERSION=6.3.3 \
+    ROCK_LIB=/var/lib/rock/R/library
 
-ENV ROCK_LIB=/var/lib/rock/R/library
-
-# Install new R packages
-# dsMediation
-RUN Rscript -e "remotes::install_github('datashield/dsMediation', ref = '$DSMEDIATION_VERSION', repos = c('https://cloud.r-project.org', 'https://cran.datashield.org'), upgrade = FALSE, lib = '$ROCK_LIB')"
-# dsMTLBase
-RUN Rscript -e "remotes::install_github('transbioZI/dsMTLBase', ref = '$DSMTL_VERSION', dependencies = TRUE, upgrade = FALSE, lib = '$ROCK_LIB')"
-# dsSurvival
-RUN Rscript -e "remotes::install_github('datashield/dsSurvival', ref = '$DSSURVIVAL_VERSION', dependencies = TRUE, upgrade = FALSE, lib = '$ROCK_LIB')"
-# dsTidyverse
-RUN Rscript -e "remotes::install_github('molgenis/ds-tidyverse', ref = '$DSTIDYVERSE_VERSION', dependencies = TRUE, upgrade = FALSE, lib = '$ROCK_LIB')"
-# dsExposome
-RUN Rscript -e "BiocManager::install(c('bumphunter', 'missMethyl', 'rexposome'), update = FALSE, ask = FALSE, lib = '$ROCK_LIB')" \
- && Rscript -e "remotes::install_github('isglobal-brge/dsExposome', ref = '$DSEXPOSOME_VERSION', repos = c('https://cloud.r-project.org', 'https://cran.datashield.org'), upgrade = FALSE, lib = '$ROCK_LIB')"
-# dsOmics
-RUN Rscript -e "BiocManager::install(c('Biobase', 'SNPRelate', 'GENESIS', 'GWASTools', 'GenomicRanges', 'SummarizedExperiment', 'DESeq2', 'edgeR', 'MEAL'), update = FALSE, ask = FALSE, lib = '$ROCK_LIB')" \
- && Rscript -e "remotes::install_github('isglobal-brge/dsOmics', ref = '$DSOMICS_VERSION', upgrade = FALSE, lib = '$ROCK_LIB')"
-# dsBase
-RUN Rscript -e "remotes::install_github('datashield/dsBase', ref = '$DSBASE_VERSION', dependencies = TRUE, upgrade = FALSE, lib = '$ROCK_LIB')" && \
-  chown -R rock $ROCK_LIB
+# Install new R packages in a single layer to reduce image size
+RUN Rscript -e "install.packages('BiocManager', repos = 'https://cloud.r-project.org')" && \
+    # Install BiocManager packages first
+    Rscript -e "BiocManager::install(c('bumphunter', 'missMethyl', 'rexposome', 'Biobase', 'SNPRelate', 'GENESIS', 'GWASTools', 'GenomicRanges', 'SummarizedExperiment', 'DESeq2', 'edgeR', 'MEAL'), update = FALSE, ask = FALSE, lib = '$ROCK_LIB')" && \
+    # Install GitHub packages
+    Rscript -e "remotes::install_github('datashield/dsMediation', ref = '$DSMEDIATION_VERSION', repos = c('https://cloud.r-project.org', 'https://cran.datashield.org'), upgrade = FALSE, lib = '$ROCK_LIB')" && \
+    Rscript -e "remotes::install_github('transbioZI/dsMTLBase', ref = '$DSMTL_VERSION', dependencies = TRUE, upgrade = FALSE, lib = '$ROCK_LIB')" && \
+    Rscript -e "remotes::install_github('datashield/dsSurvival', ref = '$DSSURVIVAL_VERSION', dependencies = TRUE, upgrade = FALSE, lib = '$ROCK_LIB')" && \
+    Rscript -e "remotes::install_github('molgenis/ds-tidyverse', ref = '$DSTIDYVERSE_VERSION', dependencies = TRUE, upgrade = FALSE, lib = '$ROCK_LIB')" && \
+    Rscript -e "remotes::install_github('isglobal-brge/dsExposome', ref = '$DSEXPOSOME_VERSION', repos = c('https://cloud.r-project.org', 'https://cran.datashield.org'), upgrade = FALSE, lib = '$ROCK_LIB')" && \
+    Rscript -e "remotes::install_github('isglobal-brge/dsOmics', ref = '$DSOMICS_VERSION', upgrade = FALSE, lib = '$ROCK_LIB')" && \
+    Rscript -e "remotes::install_github('datashield/dsBase', ref = '$DSBASE_VERSION', dependencies = TRUE, upgrade = FALSE, lib = '$ROCK_LIB')" && \
+    # Clean up temporary files and caches to reduce image size
+    rm -rf /tmp/* && \
+    rm -rf /var/lib/apt/lists/* && \
+    rm -rf /root/.cache/R && \
+    Rscript -e "if (file.exists('/tmp/downloaded_packages')) unlink('/tmp/downloaded_packages', recursive = TRUE)" && \
+    # Remove examples directories from installed R packages to reduce image size
+    find $ROCK_LIB -type d -name "examples" -exec rm -rf {} + 2>/dev/null || true && \
+    # Set proper ownership
+    chown -R rock $ROCK_LIB