NOVO GENOMICS AND LENOVO COLLABORATE TO ACCELERATE GENOMICS RESEARCH IN SAUDI ARABIA

Today Lenovo announces a new partnership with Novo Genomics, one of Saudi Arabia’s leading biotech start-ups with a focus on localizing and applying the latest technologies in genomics and multi-omics. Novo Genomics leverages data through advanced analytics and data mining to promote health and wellness in the region. The partnership will also mark Novo Genomics as the first customer of the Lenovo Genomics Optimization and Analysis Tool (GOAST) in the EMEA region.

Genomics research is actively expanding in the Kingdom, supported by strong infrastructure for research with the establishment of dedicated research centers and institutions such as the King AbdulAziz City for Science and Technology and King Abdullah International Medical Research Centre. The Kingdom has made significant investments in genomics research as a part of the country’s Vision 2030, with an aim to increase capacity for scientific research and innovation. 

Lenovo, a leader in accelerating genomics analytics with its GOAST (Genomics Optimisation and Scalability Tool) solution, enables research that is 167x faster than standard environments. This allows researchers to analyze a whole human genome in less than 53 minutes, and whole exomes in about a minute, enabling the processing of more genomes concurrently, finding answers faster, and making breakthroughs sooner. Lenovo is the only solutions provider who delivers this degree of performance in a cost-effective, open source, CPU-based solution. Lenovo ThinkSystem servers that run GOAST currently hold an incredible 196 world records for performance.

Commenting on the partnership, Alaa Bawab, General Manager, Lenovo Infrastructure Solutions Group, MEA said “Lenovo is a pioneer in accelerating genomics analytics, which is evident by our GOAST tools which not only offer higher degrees of performance and reliability but also keeps it cost-effective. We are confident that with our tools, researchers in fields of life sciences, precision medicine and infectious diseases can understand data faster and more efficiently, making it the smarter way of decoding genomics. Our R&D groups, which have some of the industry’s best HPC engineers and world-class scientists, have ensured that all the supporting work is already done, which leaves users with optimized settings for high-performing results from the moment they setup.”

Commenting on the partnership, Dr. Budoor Almansour, Chief Operating Officer and Co-founder said “Novo Genomics is a Saudi Biotech company focused on localizing and applying the technologies in genomics / multi-omics and leveraging data through advanced analytics and data mining to promote health and wellness in the region and beyond. Given the high prevalence of genetic diseases in the region, we are committed to genomics as a vital field to enrich the sector with qualified Saudi expertise. NOVO consists of a high-level team of bioinformatics scientists, consultants, and clinicians, who are empowered to put all the right strategies in place to transform the concept of health, wellness and quality of life for the benefit of the sector and society, not just for humans, but for animals and plants as well.”

Lenovo’s GOAST solution is simple to use with its plug-and-play system, while also being scalable and reliable with the help of high-performance Lenovo ThinkSystem servers. It is available in two variants, GOAST Base and GOAST Plus which deliver improvements of 18X-45X and 67X-167X respectively. It uses validated and user-trusted software and comes packed with pre-configured genomics analytics solutions. The optimizations on Lenovo’s servers also accelerate the software which further reduce execution time. Lenovo’s systems also support other bioinformatics workloads, including Transcriptomics, CryoEM and Molecular Dynamics, all on a single, optimized platform.