Droplet Biosciences is collaborating with Nvidia, using its Parabricks AI software to accelerate genomic data analysis for cancer diagnostics. This allows the company to detect residual disease from lymphatic fluid in just 24 hours post-surgery, a significant reduction from the weeks required for traditional blood-based tests.
The AI acceleration compresses computationally intensive steps from over a day to a few hours, which lowers the overall cost per sample despite higher hourly compute costs. Faster results enable patients to receive diagnostics while still hospitalized, avoiding additional visits.
The company's first validated clinical test is for HPV-negative head and neck cancer. Droplet is part of the Nvidia Inception startup accelerator program and an Nvidia AI Enterprise customer.
Main topics: Business collaboration, AI in healthcare, cancer diagnostics, genomic data analysis, efficiency and cost benefits.
Diagnostics firm Droplet Biosciences said on Tuesday it is collaborating with Nvidia to use the chipmaker's AI infrastructure to speed up post-surgery cancer test results.
The company has been using Nvidia Parabricks, a GPU-accelerated software suite, to drastically speed up genomic data âanalysis for â DNA sequencing.
â Droplet said its method can detect residual disease in 24 hours by analyzing lymphatic fluid collected post surgery, compared to the four to six weeks it typically takes for tumor remnants to appear in blood-based tests.
"By leveraging NVIDIA Parabricks' acceleration, we've been able to compress some of our â most computationally âintensive steps from more than a day down to just a few hours," said Droplet's chief â scientific officer, Wendy Winckler.
The company said it âalso realized operational benefits despite higher hourly âcosts for GPU compute, adding, "The dramatically reduced runtime results in a lower overall cost per sample."
Faster turnaround allows patients to get the results while still in the hospital, while avoiding extra visits or long waits for traditional âblood tests, it added.
"We are using Parabricks to speed up our genomic analysis and shorten turnaround time from 10 days â to less than five days," said Zhuosheng Gu, senior director of informatics, R&D at Droplet Biosciences. The diagnostic startup's first clinical test is for HPV-negative head and neck cancer, validated under the Clinical Laboratory Improvement Amendments.
Droplet is a member of NVIDIA Inception, an AI startup accelerator program, and an NVIDIA AI Enterprise customer.
The company has been using Nvidia Parabricks, a GPU-accelerated software suite, to drastically speed up genomic data âanalysis for â DNA sequencing.
â Droplet said its method can detect residual disease in 24 hours by analyzing lymphatic fluid collected post surgery, compared to the four to six weeks it typically takes for tumor remnants to appear in blood-based tests.
"By leveraging NVIDIA Parabricks' acceleration, we've been able to compress some of our â most computationally âintensive steps from more than a day down to just a few hours," said Droplet's chief â scientific officer, Wendy Winckler.
The company said it âalso realized operational benefits despite higher hourly âcosts for GPU compute, adding, "The dramatically reduced runtime results in a lower overall cost per sample."
Faster turnaround allows patients to get the results while still in the hospital, while avoiding extra visits or long waits for traditional âblood tests, it added.
"We are using Parabricks to speed up our genomic analysis and shorten turnaround time from 10 days â to less than five days," said Zhuosheng Gu, senior director of informatics, R&D at Droplet Biosciences. The diagnostic startup's first clinical test is for HPV-negative head and neck cancer, validated under the Clinical Laboratory Improvement Amendments.
Droplet is a member of NVIDIA Inception, an AI startup accelerator program, and an NVIDIA AI Enterprise customer.
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