Nvidia Acquires Sequencing Software Firm Parabricks

Computational technology company Nvidia has acquired sequencing analysis software developer Parabricks. Terms were not disclosed.
 
Nvidia founder and CEO Jensen Huang announced the deal Tuesday on stage at the company's GPU Technology Conference China.
 
Ann Arbor, Michigan-based Parabricks has developed technology that leans on graphics processing units to accelerate the analysis of whole genomes to less than one hour. A partnership with DDN Storage yielded 100x acceleration of precision medicine workflows, Parabricks said in 2018.
 
In 2020, Parabricks is set to release companion technology accelerating single-cell and RNA analysis, according to Nvidia.
 
"We are excited to have the Parabricks team join NVIDIA and double down on providing fast and accurate genome analysis tools to take genomics to the next level," Kimberly Powell, Nvidia vice president of healthcare, said in a statement.
 
"Our focus has been on speeding up [genome analysis] applications and making them enterprise-grade, push-button solutions," added Parabricks Cofounder and CTO Ankit Sethia. The tie-up with Nvidia, which offers both GPUs and artificial intelligence, will allow the company to "transform traditional analyses such as variant calling and others in the overall sequencing workflow."