It takes three gigabytes of computer memory to store the three billion bases that make up the human genome. That is the example that Rochester Institute of Technology alumnus Vishal Thovarai offers to illustrate the magnitude of data that modern scientists deal with.
As a bioinformatics engineer, Thovarai helps process data gained through DNA sequencing, the method by which scientists determine the order of the chemical building blocks that make up DNA.
After receiving his master’s degree in bioinformatics from RIT this year, Thovarai was hired by the J. Craig Venter Institute, widely considered a leader in genomic research.
“Sequencing technology is evolving so rapidly,” he said. “Now that we have the techniques, we are trying to sequence everything possible … But it’s hard to keep up. We need the capability to store and manipulate large amounts of data.”
Thovarai is one of three RIT graduates who have been hired at the J. Craig Venter Institute, which published the first diploid human genome, or genome of an individual. The institute’s global ocean sampling expedition has uncovered more than 20 million new genes and thousands of new protein families from organisms found in sea water.
“They are doing fantasy stuff,” said Gary Skuse, RIT’s interim head of the School of Biological and Medical Sciences and former head of the bioinformatics program. “It’s just incredible.”
For now, most graduates of the bioinformatics program must leave the Rochester area to find work. Skuse believes that in the future, bioinformatics skills will eventually become necessary for anyone working in biotechnology.
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