IGIB, HP sign MoU for super computing life sciences research

Jayashree Padmini - New Delhi

New Delhi-based Institute of Geno-mics & Integrative Biology (IGIB) has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Hewlett Packard (HP) to develop four teraflops super computing facility for life sciences research at IGIB. However, it may be noted that when India is excited about four teraflops, the Asian giant China is cool with 10 teraflops machines.

Teraflop is a measure of computer speed and it equates to a trillion floating point operations per second. After the superdome, the IGIB is looking at bringing a blue gene machine in the second phase of the project, said Prof Samir Brahmachari, Director, IGIB. Blue gene machine is a supercomputer that predicts the invisible process of protein folding.

But it comes quite expensive, the equation is, spend $100 million, increase processing speed 100-fold, and revolutionise bioscience research.

IGIB has high ambitions about using the high-end IT tools in new drug discovery research. ‘‘With the new facility we will get a direction and it will be clear whether we will take the superdome direction or go for blue gene machine,’’ he said.

Although he pointed out that the success rate would be about 10 per cent. IGIB received enormous support for its ambitious lifesciences project from the Planning Commission, the professor asserted. Balu Doraisamy, MD, HP India, said that the project will see collaborative R&D, technology specialist exchange programmes and leveraging HP’s extensive genomics research partner network.

HP has global lifesciences co-operation with organisations like Wellcome Trust Sanger Instiute, MIT, GeneProt, Astra Zeneca, GSK, Merck, Genentech, Novartis, etc. The IGIB-HP collaboration aims at co-development, through technical support, deployment of technical manpower on-site, human resource development in genome informatics and bioscience research. Under the agreement, high speed – multi tasking computing infrastructure will be created to support bioscience research and developing products and solutions for life science and healthcare sectors. The project aims to facilitate mobilising international funding as well as connecting IGIB to global projects.

It will also facilitate the investigation of research projects between IGIB and HP/its partners, institutions, other COEs and scientific communities in bioscience research. The objectives also include optimising/migrating novel software/bioinformatics applications/computing tools developed by IGIB on HP’s computing platform for global use and facilitating development of medical informatics initiative in India.

‘‘HP’s cluster platform provides a scalable architecture that allows to complete large simulation experiments such as molecular interactions and dynamics, virtual drug screening, protein folding, etc., at very fast pace,’’ said a press release.

IGIB’s Superdome will be the most powerful HP supercomputer in Asia and this will enable IGIB to research in complex molecular dynamic simulations, protein structure, interaction experiments and in silico toxicity studies.

This will help IGIB to accelerate the pace of innovation and allow for greater cost savings while providing higher productivity, quick response to newer opportunities and change with completely supported, highly scalable cluster solutions, said Doraisamy.