German Cancer Research Centre

Improving the NGS Pipeline

German Cancer Research Centre (Deutsches Krebsforschungszentrum, DKFZ) in Heidelberg, Germany, has installed two Convey hybrid-core (HC) computers. The Convey HC-2ex platforms are being used to accelerate the center’s next-generation sequencing (NGS) pipeline, saving them time and reducing energy consumption. This DKFZ effort is part of the International Cancer Genome Consortium (ICGC) to study tumors from more than fifty types of cancers.

Accelerating Research

“We are extremely pleased with the Convey systems. Depending on the data, we are typically seeing between 10-20x acceleration, which is substantial,” explained Dr. Benedikt Brors, Group Leader Computational Oncology, Division Theoretical Bioinformatics at DKFZ. “And our entire workflow from one end to the other is reduced by a factor of two.”

 

Reducing Energy Costs

“Accelerating this portion of our pipeline allows us to get answers substantially faster,” noted Brors. “In addition, saving processing time reduces power consumption and cooling–which is a huge advantage in saving money and a step forward in our commitment to pursue green technologies.”

 

Read the press release in full detail – Convey/DKFZ press release