Genes carry the information that make you you. So it’s fitting that, when sequenced and stored in a computer, your genome takes up gobs of memory—up to 150 gigabytes…
Sorting all that out is a perfect task for artificial intelligence. And plenty of AI startups have bent their efforts in that direction. On August 3, sequencing company Veritas Genetics bought one of the most influential: seven-year old Curoverse. Veritas thinks AI will help interpret the genetic risk of certain diseases and scour the ever-growing databases of genomic, medical, and scientific research…
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But more broadly, genomics and AI practically call out for one another. As a raw data format, a single person’s genome takes up about 150 gigabytes. How!?! OK so, yes, storing a single base pair only takes up around two bits. Multiply that by roughly 3 billion—the total number of base pairs in your 23 chromosome pairs—and you wind up with around 750 megabytes.
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But cross-referencing all those genomes is just the beginning. Curoverse, which was focusing on projects to store and sort genomic data, also has its work cut out for it in searching through the 6 million—and counting—jargon-filled academic papers detailing gene behavior, including visual information found in charts, graphs, and illustrations.
The GLP aggregated and excerpted this blog/article to reflect the diversity of news, opinion, and analysis. Read full, original post: Veritas Genetics Scoops Up an AI Company to Sort Out Its DNA
