Singapore's A*STAR, Hitachi partner for storage of genomic sequencing data

By eGov Innovation Editors | May 1, 2011

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SINGAPORE - Hitachi Asia Ltd.  and the Data Storage Institute (DSI) of Singapore's Agency for Science, Technology and Research (A*STAR) recently entered into a strategic partnership to research a new generation storage system for genome sequencing data.

The research collaboration between the two organizations is focused on meeting the high performance and low storage cost demands in storing, accessing, and managing large genome data bases.

Genome sequencing provides useful clinical information and insights to the association of specific genomic variants with diseases, thus allowing early intervention by health care professional with predictive and personalized medicine.

"Efficient data storage is a key enabler to help solve real world problems such as the management and storing of the immense generation of data coming from genome sequencing. DSI is very pleased to be a part of these efforts and the implications of this research could potentially have a huge impact on medical industry and how we view health care in the future," said Dr. Pantelis Alexopoulos, Executive Director, DSI.

Modern genome sequencing has transitioned from a primarily observational and qualitative discipline to a quantitative, data intensive, computer-intensive and predictive science. The haploid human genome is estimated to be about 3 billion base pairs long, with each base pair requiring 2 bits of storage, thus this equates to about 725 MB of data of uncompressed data.
 
"Hitachi Asia is excited about this opportunity of collaborating with DSI to further advance the scalability and functionality of our data storage system in the area of genomic science," said Makoto Nagashima, Managing Director of Hitachi Asia Ltd.

"Hitachi Asia is excited about this opportunity of collaborating with DSI to further advance the scalability and functionality of our data storage system in the area of genomic science," said Mr. Makoto Nagashima, Managing Director of Hitachi Asia Ltd.

"Efficient data storage is a key enabler to help solve real world problems such as the management and storing of the immense generation of data coming from genome sequencing. DSI is very pleased to be a part of these efforts and the implications of this research could potentially have a huge impact on medical industry and how we view health care in the future," said Dr. Pantelis Alexopoulos, Executive Director, DSI.