The Brazil DNA Project: Decoding humanity for a healthier Brazil
About DNA do Brasil
The Brazil DNA project aims to sequence the genomes of thousands of Brazilians to flag and identify the unique characteristics present in the country’s diverse population. Led by University of São Paulo (USP) researchers Lygia Pereira and Tábita Hünemeier, and working in tandem with leading diagnostic medicine company Dasa, the team will trace the country’s genetic origins and kick off a mapping study of illnesses and predispositions.
Learn how two researchers are tapping into the diversity of Brazil’s population to unlock medical advancements for the entire country.
Google Cloud results
- Advanced storage, sharing, and analysis capabilities for 1.5M GB of data
- Reduced infrastructure cost by 90% for data processing
- Paving the way for improved health and lower treatment costs
With Google Cloud, the first batch of 3,000 genomes was stored and processed at 90% less cost than traditional infrastructure
Brazil is well known for its diverse environment and cultures. But there’s something else unique about the country—its DNA. Migratory waves—both voluntary and forced—created a unique mix of African, European, Asian, and indigenous ethnicities.
Scientists have traditionally used global genome research based on data collected from 80% European samples. And making medical decisions based on data that isn’t representative of the wider population can have negative impacts.
This is set to change thanks to the Brazil DNA Project. With a more representative data pool, the project that will benefit the understanding of human evolution, improve health care, and reduce treatment costs.
Lygia da Veiga Pereira and Tábita Hünemeier from the University of São Paulo are teaming up with Dasa, a medical diagnostic medicine company, and Google Cloud to sequence the genomes of 15,000 Brazilians.
“Understanding the genetics of the Brazilian population will not only help us understand our history but also greatly improve the quality of genetic tests, which will in turn directly help our patients.”
—Gustavo Campana, Medical Director, DASADNA moves to the cloud
One of the biggest challenges was securing the necessary processing capacity and adequate tools for data analysis. Each genome can take up to 500 GB of space on average—making high-quality and speedy data processing a must.
Google Cloud helped the teams process and store the the first batch of 3,000 genomes on the cloud, at 90% less cost than traditional infrastructure. The project is now looking to process and store a further 12,000 genomes.
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About DNA do Brasil
The Brazil DNA project aims to sequence the genomes of thousands of Brazilians to flag and identify the unique characteristics present in the country’s diverse population. Led by University of São Paulo (USP) researchers Lygia Pereira and Tábita Hünemeier, and working in tandem with leading diagnostic medicine company Dasa, the team will trace the country’s genetic origins and kick off a mapping study of illnesses and predispositions.