Luminaries - Talking to the Brightest Minds in Tech

Data So Powerful…It's Saving Lives

Episode Summary

Genome sequencing is medicine that moves at the speed of technology. The faster that computers can process genetic data, the faster scientists can develop gene therapy for diseases like cancer, Alzheimer’s, and more. James Lowey, CIO at TGen, discusses how his team creates the supercomputers that are driving amazing advances in medicine.

Episode Notes

What You'll Learn In This Episode

• "The origins of human genome sequencing
• A single patient's DNA requires about 4 terabytes of storage
• The stack of paper required to write one human genome would be as
  tall as the Statue of Liberty
• Translating research into clinical application at scale
• How medicine is outpacing technology
• Dr Jeffrey Trent, President & Research Director of TGen loves helping
  people
• TGen used to see data processing as a 3 billion piece jigsaw puzzle
  that was thrown into a tornado but now, all-flash storage helps to
  put it all back together again, more efficiently and more effectively
• Thanks to artificial intelligence, robots are now performing surgery

Advances in Computer Processing Tech Are Saving Lives, Four Terabytes at a Time

Four terabytes is enough space to store over 1200 hours of HD video… Or the genetic code for a single human being. Turns out, we contain more data than the entire run of Friends, How I Met Your Mother, and the Simpsons, with room left over for the entire extended Lord of the Rings trilogy.

The ability to process that genetic code at speed will revolutionize medicine, eliminate diseases, and save lives. It’s medicine at the speed of technology – the more powerful the computer, the faster genomes can be sequenced. James Lowey, CIO of non-profit genetics company TGen, helps design and implement supercomputers that can process petabytes of genetic data in hours rather than weeks. In this episode, James talks about the technological challenges of his work – and why TGen gives their research away.