9 Oct '13

ExaScience Life Lab for Leuven’s imec

Summary

Researchers of the new ExaScience Life Lab will generate breakthroughs in life sciences and biotechnology with supercomputers

New lab in Leuven is using supercomputers to break new ground in biotech and life sciences

At nanotech research centre imec in Leuven, researchers of the new ExaScience Life Lab will generate breakthroughs in life sciences and biotechnology with supercomputers. The new lab is an extension of the ExaScience Lab for High Performance Computing, opened at imec in 2010 by technology company Intel, which is again a partner for the new project.
 

The five Flemish universities (Antwerp, Ghent, Leuven, Hasselt and Brussels) are also co-operating, and pharmaceutical company Janssen Pharmaceuticals will join the collaboration later.

Initially, the lab team will examine how supercomputers can accelerate the processing of entire genome sequences, which now takes about two days. A second goal of the ExaScience Life Lab is research on computer simulations of cells and tissues. Testing the effect of medicine digitally will save on costs compared to traditional lab tests.

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Biotechnology

Biotechnology refers to the use of existing living systems or organisms to develop useful products – for instance, through genetic engineering or DNA manipulation. Flanders is a powerhouse for biotechnology, which accounts for one of the region’s fastest-growing economic sectors.
Plant biotechnology - Flanders was the birthplace for present-day plant biotechnology. This technology to genetically modify plants is now being used around the world.
Two waves - The Flemish biotech industry developed in two waves – one in the 1980s with companies like Plant Genetic Systems and Innogenetics, and a second one in the 1990s, with companies like Ablynx, Devgen and Tigenix.
Successes - Recent biotech successes in Flanders have opened new opportunities in everything from biofuel and stem cell production to cancer treatment.
50

More than half of all biotechnology shares traded on the Euronext biotech index belong to Flemish companies

13 000

people are employed in the life science industry in Flanders and Brussels

3

billion euros in total annual turnover of the Flemish biotech industry

  • FlandersBio
  • Flemish Agency for Innovation by Science and Technology
  • Flemish Institute for Biotechnology

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