Knome, the informatics company
co-founded by George Church that bills itself as the “human genome
interpretation” company, is launching a “genome supercomputer” to enhance the
interpretation of genome sequences. The first Knome units will process one genome/day, but with headroom for much
higher throughput later on.
Designed chiefly to run
Knome’s kGAP genome interpretation software, the compute system is designed –
metaphorically perhaps -- to sit next to a sequencing instrument, and has been
soundproofed for that purpose. The unit weighs in at two pounds shy of 600
pounds, and comes with a starting price tag of
$125,000, according to the BioIT World report.
Notable Quotes:
“The advent of fast and
affordable whole genome interpretation will fundamentally change the genetic
testing landscape,” commented Church, Harvard Medical School professor of
Genetics. “The genetic testing lab of the future is a software platform where
gene tests are apps.”
The launch of the so-called
genome supercomputer represents “an evolution of our thinking,” says Knome
president and CEO Martin Tolar. While the larger genomics research organizations
have dedicated teams and datacenters to handle genome data, for the majority of
Knome’s clients, Tolar says, “you really want to have integrated hardware and
software systems.”
With some 2,000
next-generation sequencing (NGS) instruments on the market, each close to
sequencing a genome a day, Tolar asks: “Why not have a box sitting next to it to
do the interpretation?” Ideally, he says, every NGS instrument should have a
companion knoSYS 100 nearby. The system is a localized version of Knome’s
existing genome analysis and interpretation software. “We’ve localized it,
shrunk it, and modified it to work on a local system that sits behind the
client’s firewall,” says Tolar.
Cross-Link:
No comments:
Post a Comment