The recently inaugurated high-performance computing (HPC) facility at the ICMR-National Virology Institute (NIV) in Pune represents a significant technological advancement in India’s public health research capabilities, aligning with the country’s vision for ‘Viksit Bharat 2047‘. This state-of-the-art computing cluster, named NAKSHATRA, is poised to enhance genomic research and surveillance, contributing notably to preparedness for future pandemics.
As the global community faces increasing threats from zoonotic spillovers—where viruses transmit from animals to humans—this facility emerges as a critical resource. The ongoing challenges presented by viruses such as SARS-CoV-2, responsible for the Covid-19 pandemic, and H5N1, commonly known as bird flu, underline the facility’s importance in addressing public health crisis.
Dr. Naveen Kumar, Director of ICMR-NIV, noted a dramatic increase in viral species over the years, with the International Committee on Taxonomy of Viruses (ICTV) reporting a growth from 290 viral species and 2 virus families in 1971 to 14,690 viral species and 314 families by 2023. This vast expansion reflects the ongoing emergence of new viruses and genetic variants, driven largely by factors such as globalisation, climate change, and deforestation.
In this context, the HPC facility is a response to the limitations faced by India during the Covid pandemic, providing advanced computing resources that will facilitate rapid, data-driven engagement with future virus outbreaks, including those from Nipah virus, Crimean-Congo haemorrhagic fever, West Nile, Zika, mpox, and H5N1 influenza A.
Developed under the Pradhan Mantri Ayushman Bharat Health Infrastructure Mission (PMABHIM), the HPC initiative will revolutionise the processing of genomic and bioinformatics data in India. The NAKSHATRA cluster features 12 compute nodes with a total of 700 cores and 1 petabyte of storage, enabling the management of complex bioinformatics workflows like next-generation sequencing (NGS), transcriptomics, phylogenetics, metagenomics, and structural bioinformatics. This facility will not only serve as a central repository for sequencing data but will also provide essential support to Viral Research and Diagnostic Laboratories (VRDLs) across the nation, initially assisting five ICMR institutes.
With the capacity to enhance genomic surveillance and accelerate analysis of complex data, the NAKSHATRA facility is expected to support earlier detection of emerging disease threats, improving response times to outbreaks and facilitating AI-driven vaccine and drug development. As India prepares for future public health emergencies, the establishment of this high-performance computing cluster signifies a major commitment to advancing the nation’s capabilities in public health and disease research.
-Raja Aditya
