HPC In the field stories

Research network connects hospital gene equipment to supercomputer

The Center for Genomic Medicine at the national hospital Rigshospitalet in Copenhagen, Denmark, performs genetic analyses of samples taken from patients. The employees use sequencing machines to convert the samples to digital data, which they then analyse on Computerome. A complete human genome sequencing takes up 120 gigabytes. “It would not be possible to send such large amounts of data to Computerome over our regular internet connection, which was already overloaded with data from our smaller sequencing machines,” said bioinformatics leader Rasmus Lykke Marvig from Rigshospitalet.

Some data sets were so large that they had to be moved manually: the employees copied data onto a hard drive and took it to Risø by car. Therefore, the hospital contacted the network department at DeiC. They wanted to know if they could connect the new equipment to Computerome via forskningsnettet, the Danish NREN.

“We experienced great enthusiasm and helpfulness. The connection became operational in November at the same time as we received the new equipment,” said Frederik Otzen Bagger.

Read how exactly DeiC supported the hospital in the full story on the In The Field blog.

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