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Content about DNA

April 15, 2015

Cancer researchers at the University of Oslo are using the Abel supercomputer to detect which parts of the genetic code may cause bowel and prostate cancer.

March 11, 2015

Researchers in Switzerland have taken inspiration from fossils to discover how DNA could be used to reliably store data for over two million years. They stored 83 kilobytes of data — containing the text from the Swiss Federal Charter of 1291 and the English translation of the Method of Archimedes — on DNA, which was subsequently encapsulated in silica to mimic the protective shell provided by fossilized bone. 

June 25, 2014

Although most individuals are exposed to cancer-causing types of HPV — that could potentially lead to cancer of the head and neck, uterine cervix, or the anogenital region — the majority never develop cancer.  Researchers are trying to understand the DNA sequence changes caused by HPV in cancers in hopes of uncovering novel genetic targets for new treatments.

March 26, 2014

Manuel Peitsch, co-founder of the Swiss Institute of Bioinformatics, will chair a session on high-performance computing in the life sciences at ISC’14 in Leipzig, Germany, in June. He tells iSGTW about the exciting advancements being made in this field.

Peitsch argues that bioinformatics — enabled by advances in high-performance computing — has a major role to play in tackling the grand challenges of the 21st century, such as environmental protection, energy supply, public health, and sustainable food production.

January 15, 2014

iSGTW recently interviewed Ewan Birney, associate director of the European Bioinformatics Institute (EBI), regarding his keynote talk at the EUDAT 2nd Conference. In this interview, Birney raised the exciting prospect of using DNA as an organic data storage device. But could DNA storage really replace tapes and hard disks for long-term preservation of data? Charles Harvey investigates… 

October 9, 2013

Ewan Birney, associate director of the European Bioinformatics Institute, says that biology has now transformed to become a 'big-data science'. Ahead of his keynote talk at this month’s EUDAT 2nd conference, he explains that the field faces both what he terms 'blue-' and 'white-collar problems' in handling this data deluge.

Plus, could DNA really be the future of data storage? Birney believes it could be. "DNA is remarkable," he says. "Just one gram of DNA can store about a petabyte’s worth of data… it's estimated that you could put the whole internet into the size of a van!"

March 27, 2013

Pronto Diagnostics, a leading provider of molecular diagnostic products and services from Israel, is using distributed computing resources to improve DNA sequencing techniques. Thanks to the European Grid Infrastructure and Israel’s IsraGrid, it’s as easy as AGCT!

September 19, 2012

Meet ENCODE, the ultimate guide to the human genome. But the project isn't just changing the way we look at our DNA, it's also revolutionizing the way in which scientist publish their research findings.

February 2, 2011

Sequencing a simple organism's entire genome can now be done in a matter of hours — a huge improvement, when you consider that it took 13 years to do the original Human Genome Project.

But a new bottleneck has come up, in the form of processing the large amounts of data involved.

Now, however, an on-demand, cloud-based solution could come to the rescue.