What Data Problem?

It's become a cliché, but the term "bottleneck" is an apt way to describe how data analysis gets held up after genomes are sequenced. A startup company thinks it has a way to smash the bottle, so to speak. California-based Bina Technologies has developed the "Bina Box," reports Technology Review's Susan Young — a machine connected to a cloud-hosted site for data management and analysis. "The group plans to sell [it] preloaded with software that can reduce the 300 gigabytes or so of raw data from a human genome into a few hundred megabytes of genetic information," Young says. "The box will upload the compressed dataset to Bina's cloud service for storage, sharing, and further analysis." The box works at speeds that are orders of magnitude faster than tools used at the Broad Institute, she adds. The company says it will works with a few genomics groups like Foundation Medicine to pilot test the technology, before it is made widely available.