How edge computing alleviates challenges in life sciences

Life sciences organizations have demonstrated their ability to perform incredible feats, supported by robust, sustainable and scalable infrastructure systems . In this article, we explore how edge computing can enable the next leap in life sciences innovation…

For any industry, scaling to meet unexpected demands can be challenging. When the challenge is not just for production, but also for research in high-tech or advanced fields such as life sciences, the task is daunting, to say the least.

In 2020, when the scale of the global Covid-19 pandemic became known, the life sciences industry went into overdrive. Increasing research, large-scale testing and vaccine production, companies find themselves facing unprecedented challenges in developing new vaccines at breakneck speed.

What would normally take up to 10 years was completed in just one year, according to a McKinsey review; producing 15 vaccine candidates that received emergency or full authorization for use on every continent around the world use.

“It is no exaggeration to say that the development and deployment of Covid-19 vaccines is capturing and inspiring the hope of millions, if not billions, of people around the world. This is science that will make history, industrial, regulatory and logistics achievements,” McKinsey said. However, according to Pfizer, this acceleration is only possible by leveraging critical data infrastructure that is used for data collection, aggregation, processing and analysis and enables dynamic team collaboration, peer review and regulation across different countries supervision.

Life-Saving Science Infrastructure

There is a need to be able to rapidly scale such systems while adopting new infrastructure to ensure that processing power is provided close to where the data is generated and used. Systems such as edge computing systems play a key role in this monumental effort.

In addition, the UK and Ireland play a key role in this massive effort that benefits all humanity. For example, as a life sciences hub, Ireland is home to 10 of the world's major life sciences companies and represents 20 of them. In addition, the UK is home to a number of pioneering life sciences and global pharmaceutical organizations, many of which were born or have roots in the UK. McKinsey calls the UK a global leader and “Europe’s leading biotech hub” and this is evident with organizations such as Exscientia, AstraZeneca and BioNTech leading the way in drug discovery and disease prevention.

Investment also continues to develop rapidly in these two areas. Eli Lilly, for example, is investing €400 million to expand its Limerick facility, which will allow the company to expand its ability to produce innovative medicines to help treat some of the world's most serious diseases.

World leader in genomics

Another important example of life-saving research is the Wellcome Sanger Institute. The institute, based near Cambridge, UK, uses genomic data to advance the understanding of human DNA. This is a highly data-intensive operation that delivers genomic data to a variety of healthcare and life sciences organizations as well as commercial partners.

Computing has always been at the heart of Sanger science, and the institute relies on genome sequencing machines that can produce more than 2 terabytes of data every day. All of this must be stored, processed and analyzed locally and made available to other research institutions.

A key component promoting the institute is its data center and edge computing capabilities. Sending more than 2TB of data per machine per day back to a central data lake for primary processing would be cumbersome, impractical, and expensive. However, the institute has its own dedicated on-site infrastructure to mitigate this challenge. It is the largest genomic data center in Europe and each of its genome sequencers is protected by distributed power supply equipment including uninterruptible power supplies (UPS). protection of.

The volume and speed of data made cloud services unsuitable for the institute's requirements, which meant the physical location of its 4MW data center was critical. As an edge computing facility, the data center is where the scientific community and campus-based commercial partners analyze data and map genomes.

The ability to have primary processing power close to where the data is generated enables life sciences organizations, such as research institutes, to carry out their important work. The cost savings of having a reliable, efficient data center infrastructure that can be managed from a single pane of glass will also help the institute reduce its data center operating costs. In turn, this means Sanger can invest more in research to make new discoveries faster.

Data Center and Edge

However, edge computing systems must be supported by a robust data center infrastructure that supports available, reliable, resilient infrastructure - and its rapid deployment Rapidly scalable solutions and new design approaches are needed.

Prefabricated modular data centers are equipped with the most energy-efficient infrastructure equipment, giving life sciences and biotechnology companies the flexibility to place data centers where they need them. The pre-engineered, pre-tested and standardized nature of these technologies also enables compressed deployment times but with guaranteed resiliency from the moment they run.

The combination of these edge computing architectures, coupled with powerful, scalable, easy-to-deploy modular data centers, has the ability to exponentially increase life sciences efforts toward the scale of vaccine achievements of the past few years. .

Edge computing can mitigate risks associated with healthcare and life sciences by processing data closer to where it is generated and used, thereby enabling faster detection, a smaller attack surface, and greater Fast response time to reduce the risk of attacks.

Cybersecurity is also significantly enhanced by next-generation software systems that combine the power of the cloud with artificial intelligence and machine learning capabilities. These tools provide comprehensive insight into critical vulnerabilities, with some able to proactively identify legacy platforms that need patching and modernization. These comprehensive monitoring and management tools are used in edge computing and data center environments to ensure life sciences infrastructure systems are secure, resilient and free of downtime and vulnerabilities.

One cannot underestimate the contribution of life sciences to the health and well-being of the global population. These organizations continue to demonstrate the ability to step up and perform incredible feats of innovation and protection of humanity. Innovation in drug discovery and disease prevention will continue to keep pace, supported by a data infrastructure that matches the speed, agility and reliability of the industry.

Edge computing, with its unique ability to support the modern needs of life sciences, will ensure that nothing can stop the pace of transformation and that its impact continues to benefit everyone on the planet.

The above is the detailed content of How edge computing alleviates challenges in life sciences. For more information, please follow other related articles on the PHP Chinese website!