A new update to Lenovo‘s genetic data processing platform is set to revolutionize how quickly scientists can decode human DNA. The company announced the fourth generation of GOAST, which can now analyze an entire human genome in as fast as 24 minutes.
This processing speed marks a massive improvement over the previous standard, where a similar analysis could take several days. Genomics Optimization and Scalability Tool 4.0 (GOAST) is designed to handle the immense amount of data in a genome, which consists of roughly 3 billion individual DNA building blocks.
The implications of this speed are important for medical research. By reducing wait times from days to minutes, the technology enables faster identification of genetic links to diseases, accelerates the development of new drugs, and allows for more responsive patient care in areas like cancer treatment.
Another benefit highlighted by Lenovo is the system’s efficiency. A single computing unit equipped with GOAST 4.0 has the capacity to handle about 22,000 genomes each year. The company also emphasizes that it achieves performance levels rivaling more expensive hardware, but at a significantly lower cost and power efficiency. In addition, the servers use a water-cooling design that lowers their energy use by up to 40 percent.
To make this powerful tool more widely available, Lenovo offers it through a flexible pay-as-you-go plan. This approach lets universities, research labs, and public health organizations access top-tier computing power without a major initial investment.
Lenovo GOAST 4.0 is already in use at scientific institutions across the globe, including in Saudi Arabia, Thailand, India, and Indonesia. In the Philippines, a prominent medical research institute is currently implementing the technology.