The Dawn of Personal Genomics – BGI Tackles DNA Big Data Using Nvidia GPUs

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Today Nvidia announced the world’s largest genomics institute is using GPUs in in pioneering work of affordable personalized medicine. According to the company, BGI has slashed the time to analyze batches of DNA sequencing data from nearly four days to just six hours using a Tesla GPU-based server farm.

We are drowning in the genome data that our high-throughput sequencing machines create every day,” said Dr. Bingqiang Wang, head of high performance computing from BGI. “GPU acceleration of our genome analysis applications enables our scientists to crunch through data and gain insights into bacteria, plants and humans faster than was ever possible. It offers the potential for researchers and healthcare professionals to identify highly effective and affordable individualized medicines and treatments.”

Speedups like this are considered critically important in determining chemical building blocks that make up a DNA molecule. With a goal of $1,000 genome, the genomics industry aims to make DNA clinical diagnostic tests as a practical component of patient care.

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