Intel^® and Broad Institute collaborate on powerful & flexible data center solutions for genomics analytics.

The field of genomics is revolutionizing our understanding of human biology, rapidly accelerating the discovery and treatment of genetic diseases, and dramatically improving human health. Genomics, which allows medical professionals to use the study of genes to enhance clinical care, is moving the industry quickly toward a promising future of personalised healthcare and precision medicine.

To help, Intel^® and the Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard have partnered to make genomic analytics workflows run faster, at unprecedented scale, and with easier deployment. Intel and Broad have developed a breakthrough architecture, called the Broad-Intel Genomics Stack (BIGstack), which currently delivers a 5x improvement to Broad’s genomics analytics pipeline using Intel’s CPUs, Omni-Path Fabric and SSDs. The stack also includes optimizations for the forthcoming release of Intel’s integrated CPU + FPGA products.

Intel^® and Broad are making the BIGstack available to run the new GATK4 Best Practices pipeline up to five times faster than the previous versions, supporting data volumes at truly unprecedented scale and simplifying deployment with production-ready scripts. The architecture yields performance based on the combination of Intel^® CPUs, Omni-Path Fabric and SSDs. The BIGstack also includes optimisations for Intel FPGAs with early results showing a potential for more than 35x improvement in the PairHMM algorithm.

The Genome Analysis Toolkit from the Broad Institute is the industry’s foremost software tool in the field of genomic analytics. Broad announced it will open source Version 4 of GATK (GATK4), which is extremely helpful for the genomics research, biotech and pharmaceutical communities.

XENON currently works closely with leading research institutions to deliver high performance computing solutions that enable the development of new cures and accelerates the development of future medicines through computational simulations. We are happy to work with you and help you achieve your research goals. For more information contact XENON via our website or give us a ring at 1300 888 030.

Success Stories:

• Garvan Institute of Medical Research

  XENON Brings Affordable 24×7 Genome Sequencing Computing Capability to the Garvan Institute to Enhance Genomic Discovery. Read more.

• Walter and Eliza Hall Institute (WEHI)

  WEHI and XENON Design Private Cloud For Next Generation Cancer, Disease and Medical Research. Read more.