Aju Business Daily

SEOUL -- A consortium of three South Korean biotech companies involved in genetic analysis and research has been selected for a state pilot project aimed at establishing big data in biology. It is part of the so-called K-DNA project to support the development of new drugs, medical device products and the digital healthcare industry.

The two-year project involving Theragen Bio, Macrogen and DNA Link calls for the establishment of clinical information and genomic data about more than 20,000 people from November. In the first year, the DNA of 7,500 donors will be analyzed with next-generation sequencing technology to produce high-quality whole-genome data.

"This selection of final business operators recognizes our experiences in producing genetic data and technical skills, which have led the domestic NGS market and developed related technologies to the level of advanced countries," the three companies said in a joint statement, vowing to establish a high-quality national medical service foundation and secure competitiveness in the bio-healthcare industry.

Big data in biology helps to explore the role of data-driven analysis for reaching logical conclusions to solving biological problems. K-DNA is a multi-departmental project that collects clinical samples of one million healthy people, cancer patients and patients with rare diseases and produces and utilizes genetic big data. The consortium would create standards for large-scale management of clinical samples, production and management of next-generation sequencing data, and pipeline construction.