The ICMR-National Virology Institute (NIV) recently opened a high-performance computing (HPC) facility, marking a technologically advanced and important turning point in the development of India’s capacity for public health research.

The cutting-edge computing cluster, called NAKSHATRA, is anticipated to advance genomic research and monitoring as a key step towards “Viksit Bharat 2047,” greatly enhancing the nation’s pandemic readiness.

The facility opens at a time when a number of zoonotic spillovers—from animals to humans and vice versa—are posing a rising hazard to the planet. Among many others, these include the SARS-COV-2 virus, which caused the devastating Covid-19 pandemic, and H5N1, also referred to as the bird flu, which devastated both the animal kingdom and humans.

“From just 290 viral species and 2 virus families identified by the International Committee on Taxonomy of Viruses (ICTV) in 1971, the numbers have jumped to 14,690 viral species and 314 families in 2023,” stated Dr. Naveen Kumar, Director of ICMR-NI

According to him, reports of new viruses and genetic variations are coming in practically every day. Speaking to reporters, Kumar clarified, “The reason is increased globalization, global warming, and deforestation, which is driving the emergence of novel pathogen.”

The Pradhan Mantri Ayushman Bharat Health Infrastructure Mission (PMABHIM) is responsible for the development of the HPC facility. The “High Performance Computing Next Generation Sequencing (NGS) Hub” is a new project that is built around it.

The project will transform the processing of genomic and bioinformatics data in India. Most importantly, it will examine the constraints imposed by traditional computing infrastructure on the nation during the COVID-19 epidemic.

In order to facilitate quick, data-driven responses to virus outbreaks ranging from Nipah to West Nile, Zika, Covid, mpox, H5N1 influenza A, and Crimean-Congo hemorrhagic fever (CCHF), Kumar says the HPC cluster will be essential.

In addition to improving the nation’s capability for genetic monitoring and data analysis, the NAKSHATRA HPC facility will help get ready for future public health catastrophes and technology-driven pandemic preparedness.

Scientists nationwide will benefit from the facility’s ability to analyze complicated genomic data more quickly, which will aid in the early detection of emerging disease threats. This will speed up AI-driven vaccine and medication development and improve the effectiveness of epidemic response.

Interestingly, the recently activated HPC cluster has 12 computing nodes with 700 cores and 1 petabyte of storage.

NGS, transcriptomics, phylogenetics, metagenomics, and structural bioinformatics are among the intricate bioinformatics operations that it will facilitate.

In addition to providing support to Viral Research and Diagnostic Laboratories (VRDLs), the facility will serve as a single archive for sequencing data. At first, it would provide services to five ICMR institutes nationwide.