If you are a biologist working your way through understanding the molecular enigmas of cancer or getting your grip on developing the next big drug for Alzheimer’s; your chances of being befuddled by the vast expanse of genomic and proteomic data while keeping track of your own research agenda, are exponential . The predicament you face is but common across the life sciences sector which has been chequered with long discovery times, cloistered research strategies, high failure rates and poor therapeutic performance, even as research hubs and pharmaceutical behemoths tout the possibilities of a utopian world through personalized medicine with characteristic pompousness.
It is but stupefying that while biological research has been concerned deeply with the mechanics of the molecular mileu in living beings, the new age data intensive biological research has called for deployment of information technology solutions. In the midst of the bioinformatics programs and software tools, the Cloud Computing concept has been hailed by many as a game changer, as it unwittingly enables new age biologist collaborate, discover and deliver therapeutics with a certain agility that could make Nadia Comaneci go green with envy.
Ostensibly, scientists across major research hubs such as the United States, UK and Germany, housing the Meccas of high throughput genomic and proteomic research, have actively adopted Cloud based computing solutions as the new paradigms of collaborative research.
Despite your choice of indulgence in biological research as for profit or Samaritan, it is hard to ignore the influence of the cloud. Public initiatives such as the CaBIG Network, TGen, OSDD, Dendron and MDC Systems Biology network have deployed elements of the cloud infrastructure particularly around collaborative workflow managements and sharing data sets between their collaborators. On the contrary, for-profit pharmaceutical and biotechnology behemoths including Eli Lilly and Glaxo Smith Kline have deployed the cloud as a catalytic environment to facilitate collaboration and at times aiding technology scouting with significant cost reductions. More recently, Eli Lilly exploited the collaborative potential of the cloud to facilitate technology licensing activity through its PD3 program that provides access to a wide cohort of collaborators who may have interesting molecules up their sleeve for drug development. Unlike Eli Lilly, GlaxoSmithKline has harped on the cloud infrastructure to deploy a 360 degree approach that spreads across the entire business spectrum ranging from classical collaboration to managing marketing pipelines in real time.While these examples form the tip of an iceberg, the Cloud is fast emerging as The opportunity for healthcare and life sciences to deliver affordable cure and sustainable health worldwide by wading through a complex regulatory network. Visit the HP Cloud Finder to find out how !
