The world鈥檚 fastest commercial supercomputer will be used to analyse DNA data from the Human Genome Project.
快猫短视频s have a rough 鈥榖lueprint鈥� of the human genome. But now they must make sense of it. Huge computing power will be required to work out which combination of the 35,000 human genes so far identified cause particular diseases.
The US genetics research firm NuTec Sciences has now ordered a $10m IBM supercomputer to help. NuTec says it plans to sell time on the computer to individual pharmaceutical and gene research organisations.
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The computer will consist of 1250 of IBM鈥檚 p640 servers. It will be capable of 7.5 trillion calculations per second, meaning only a few computers owned by the governments are faster.
鈥淲e鈥檙e in a race to translate raw genetic data into knowledge that will solve the cancer problem, rationally matching each cancer to new treatments,鈥� says Jonathan Simons, director of the Winship Cancer Institute at Emory University, Atlanta.
鈥淣uTec Sciences鈥� efforts will allow researchers to mine vast genomics data sets in real time and have a far-reaching impact on how we do medicine and science.鈥�