Genomics

Genetics researchers around the globe have access to a comprehensive record of all sequenced DNA, thanks to an international effort to share massive amounts of information between databases in Japan, the United States, and Europe.

"With the world's population estimated to reach 9.6 billion by 2050, making staple foods - wheat, grains and rice - higher yielding, more resilient to climate variability and more nutritious is vital. We can’t delay. Collaboration on a global scale is needed to produce the bulk of the food in the world, or there’ll be problems," said researcher Professor Barry Pogson.

“Without Science DMZ, our laboratories would be isolated islands,” says Ana Benko-Iseppon, a Brazilian researcher working on the global project to develop more environmentally adapted cultivated forms of the black-eyed bean.

MinE is an international project to search for the genetic causes of ALS (Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis), a deadly neurodegenerative disease. Thanks to an enormous computing facility and the best network connection, the MinE project can generate better results.

Access to cloud services, such as high-performance computing and storage, that are impractical for the museum to house on site is significantly improving the analysis process and the way data is shared between Koala Genome Project partners, opening the door to new insights for conservation and protection.

Swedish researchers are incorporating sensitive register data in their cross-border analyses of the interaction between genetic and environmental factors for schizophrenia. Thanks to Tryggve, a new Nordic initiative to advance the utilization of sensitive biomedical data.

Five to six years ago, researchers were able to sequence hundreds of immune-system molecules (like antibodies) in the human body. Today they can sequence tens of millions.

African scientists have begun to study genomic influences on disease across their continent, and the Pan African bioinformatics network H3ABioNet supports much of their research, using videoconferencing to bring researchers together across vast distances.

“Diseases don’t know boundaries or country codes, we have to build systems that allow researchers to collaborate internationally,” says Professor Richard Sinnott. With that goal in mind, he established the endocrine genomics virtual laboratory - endoVL, which allows researchers to draw on large enough cohorts to conduct studies with real statistical power.

A full set of one person’s DNA data requires a stack of 50 DVDs while a large study with 1,000 patients can be hundreds of terabytes of data. This makes it impractical to transfer genomic data using traditional methods, challenging to store it, and virtually impossible to use it without advanced research and education networks like CANARIE, sophisticated software tools, and high performance computing facilities.

New technologies for deep sequencing of DNA and RNA are paving the way for unprecedented opportunities in genomic medicine. Norwegian medical scientists enlist the Abel supercomputer in Oslo to transform numbers and genome sequences into improved and more personalized cancer treatment.