Novo Genomics and Lenovo join forces to boost genomics studies in Saudi Arabia

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.

The development of specialised research facilities and organisations, such as the King Abdul Aziz City for Science and Technology and the King Abdullah International Medical Research Centre, has helped the Kingdom’s genomics industry grow rapidly. As part of the nation’s Vision 2030, the Kingdom has made considerable investments in genomics research intending to enhance its capacity for innovative and scientific research.

Lenovo, a pioneer in genomics analytics, is revolutionizing the field with its GOAST technology, which enables researchers to be 167 times faster than traditional methods. This means that a whole human genome can be analyzed in under 53 minutes, and entire exomes in just one minute, making it possible to process more genomes and find answers quicker. Lenovo is the only company that offers this level of performance in a cost-effective and open-source CPU-based solution. The Lenovo ThinkSystem servers running GOAST hold a remarkable 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 set up.”

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 user-friendly, thanks to its plug-and-play setup, and offers scalability and reliability through the high-performance Lenovo ThinkSystem servers. It comes in two options, GOAST Base and GOAST Plus, which offer performance improvements of 18X-45X and 67X-167X respectively. It uses well-established software and is equipped with pre-configured genomics analytics tools. The optimizations on Lenovo’s servers further speed up the software, reducing processing time. Additionally, Lenovo’s systems support other bioinformatics tasks, such as Transcriptomics, CryoEM, and Molecular Dynamics, all on a single, optimized platform.