National Institute of Radiological Sciences

Now that scientists have sequenced the human genome, they face an even greater challenge: analyzing and interpreting the tens of thousands of genes within the genome to develop new, safe and effective pharmaceutical products. Rosetta Biosoftware, has developed the Rosetta Resolver system to help researchers interpret the behavior of thousands of genes in parallel and apply their findings to practical use. Powered by Sun Fire Enterprise servers and Sun StorEdge technology, scientists at the National Institute of Radiological Sciences (NIRS) in Chiba, Japan use the Rosetta Resolver system to develop a diagnostic device to combat severe side effects and accelerate efforts towards meeting clinical needs for radiotherapy of malignant tumors and radiation diagnostics of diseases. Performance was a critical consideration for the NIRS, since it relies on microarray technology to observe the entire genome on a single chip to gain a complete picture of the interactions among thousands of genes simultaneously. Since migrating to the Rosetta Resolver gene expression data analysis system running on the Sun platform, researchers at the NIRS can now store all their gene expression data in a single database for easy access to, and analysis of, tens of thousands of genes and experiments at one time. More importantly, the NIRS can now conduct gene expression research in a fraction of the time required by its previous solution. Researchers can also easily leverage previous experiments to perform new analysis using new parameters and variables to further its understanding of predictability by genomic variance between individuals. The result: the ability to quickly and effectively analyze the gene expression profiles of normal cell lines and cancer cell lines to determine cellular radio-susceptibility levels.

Now that scientists have sequenced the human genome, they face an even greater challenge: analyzing and interpreting the tens of thousands of genes within the genome to develop new, safe and effective pharmaceutical products. Rosetta Biosoftware, a leading provider of bioinformatics solutions, has developed the Rosetta Resolver system, a powerful gene expression data analysis solution, to help researchers interpret the behavior of thousands of genes in parallel and apply their findings to practical use.

Powered by Sun Fire enterprise servers and Sun StorEdge technology, scientists at the National Institute of Radiological Sciences (NIRS) in Chiba, Japan use the Rosetta Resolver system to develop a diagnostic device to combat severe side effects and accelerate efforts towards meeting clinical needs for radiotherapy of malignant tumors and radiation diagnostics of diseases.

Rosetta Biosoftware and Sun Drive Genomics Revolution

The effective interpretation of large gene expression information databases is a daunting task. Without a means of translation, scientists are powerless to access the information and decipher its meaning. "In life science research, the difference between having massive quantities of data and knowing what it means is the difference between ignorance and knowledge," explains Doug Bassett, vice president and general manager of Rosetta Biosoftware. "The Rosetta Resolver system is an enterprise-wide, bioinformatics solution for deciphering the enormous amount of gene-expression data being generated by the genomics revolution."

The Rosetta Resolver system is an enterprise solution that offers a high performance data warehouse, microarray technology-specific error models and analysis engines for gene expression analysis. Using their microarray technology of choice and the Rosetta Resolver system, researchers can simultaneously monitor multiple pathways and targets within a cell, providing a clear picture.

Performance was a critical consideration for the NIRS, since it relies on microarray technology to observe the entire genome on a single chip to gain a complete picture of the interactions among thousands of genes simultaneously. "With Sun Fire technology at the heart of our architecture, we can analyze a massive amount of gene expression data at once," comments Dr. Imai. "In fact, we expect to conduct more than 1000 microarray experiments analyzing 2.2x107 DNA sequences each year — no other competing solution could handle that level of volume."

The robust, flexible and scalable Sun StorEdge architecture plays a key role in enabling the NIRS to effectively manage its rapidly growing amount of highly complex data. "Secure data storage and quick retrieval are critical to our ability to develop a new device that can identify radiosensitive individuals," explains Dr. Imai. "It was important that we invest in a storage solution that could accommodate our current needs while offering the scalability to meet our needs of tomorrow. Sun delivers that solution."

Equipped with Sun Fire technology and Sun StorEdge solutions running on the Solaris"! Operating Environment, the NIRS is well positioned to address mission-critical availability. However, the research organization has also invested in a SunSpectrum Gold support agreement to help identify issues that might cause degradation in performance and to help ensure fast response and resolution times in the event that a problem does arise.

Advancing Radiation Health Sciences

Since migrating to the Rosetta Resolver gene expression data analysis system running on the Sun platform, researchers at the NIRS can now store all their gene expression data in a single database for easy access to, and analysis of, tens of thousands of genes and experiments at one time. More importantly, the NIRS can now conduct gene expression research in a fraction of the time required by its previous solution. Researchers can also easily leverage previous experiments to perform new analysis using new parameters and variables to further its understanding of predictability by genomic variance between individuals. The result: the ability to quickly and effectively analyze the gene expression profiles of normal cell lines and cancer cell lines to determine cellular radio-susceptibility levels.

"Leveraging the robust and powerful end-to-end gene expression data analysis system from Rosetta Biosoftware and Sun, we will make significant progress in the development of a new diagnostic device that will help in the fight against cancer," concludes Dr. Imai.