Edico Genome seeks to speed up DNA mapping

Edico Genome has developed a circuit board card that plugs into computers to speed processing of genomic data.

A San Diego startup has come up with technology that it claims streamlines the mapping of next-generation DNA sequencing data into useful information.

Edico Genome has developed the Dragen Wavefront Processor system that can take data that might require 20 hours to process today and do it in less than 30 minutes, said Pieter van Rooyen, chief executive officer of the firm.

It makes things obviously a lot faster, but our biggest value proposition, I would say, is actually the cost, he said. It provides all the bio-IT processing at a much lower cost.

While the core cost of sequencing a human genome now has fallen below $1,000 thanks to new high-tech machines from San Diego-based Illumina and similar devices from Thermo Fishers Life Technologies unit in Carlsbad processing the enormous amounts of digital data created during DNA sequencing remains a time-consuming, computer-intensive bottleneck that is slowing down efforts to bring the full benefit of genomic medicine to the public.

According to van Rooyen, the company is talking with Illumina and Thermo Fisher about its technology. Illumina declined to comment. Mike Lelivelt, director of software products for Thermo Fishers Ion Torrent line of sequencers, said data sets are so large in next-generation sequencing that research labs have banks of computers sitting near sequencing machines to process the genetic information and hunt for variants.

What (Edico is) trying to do is speed up what could be a very time-intensive process by using a highly modified collection of graphic processors that are specifically built to do massively parallel mapping of these individual (sequencing) reads, he said.

The question is whether Edicos faster processing technology is worth the potential cost.

Van Rooyen claims Dragen Wavefront cuts costs by reducing computer hardware and other back-office infrastructure expenses. But Lelivelt isnt so sure of the savings. Edico sells an aftermarket circuit board card that plugs into computers. Installation, along with the costs of the processor itself, could make it too expensive for the benefit.

Do the people buying this value speed to the point where they are willing to pay the premium that might be coming in with this? asked Lelivelt.

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Edico Genome seeks to speed up DNA mapping