ICMR-NIV Pune Inaugurates High Performance Computing Facility To Boost Genomic Research and Pandemic Preparedness
ICMR-NIV Pune Inaugurates High Performance Computing Facility To Boost Genomic Research and Pandemic Preparedness
Pune, June 2, 2025
The Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) marked a significant milestone in advancing India’s public health research capabilities with the inauguration of its first High Performance Computing (HPC) facility at the ICMR–National Institute of Virology (NIV), Pune. The state-of-the-art computing cluster, named NAKSHATRA, was officially inaugurated by Dr. Rajiv Bahl, Secretary of the Department of Health Research (DHR) and Director General of ICMR.
Developed under the Pradhan Mantri Ayushman Bharat Health Infrastructure Mission (PM-ABHIM), the HPC facility forms the cornerstone of a new project titled “High Performance Computing Next Generation Sequencing (NGS) Hub”. The initiative aims to revolutionize how genomic and bioinformatics data are processed, addressing limitations faced during the COVID-19 pandemic due to conventional computing infrastructure.
In his inaugural address, Dr. Rajiv Bahl commended the institute for its timely and strategic step towards ‘Viksit Bharat 2047’ vision by strengthening the country’s genomic surveillance and data analysis capacity. He highlighted how enhanced computing resources are crucial in preparing for technology driven pandemic preparedness and future public health emergencies.
Director of ICMR-NIV, Dr Naveen Kumar emphasized the critical role the HPC cluster will play in supporting rapid, data-driven responses to outbreaks. Dr. Sarah Cherian, Group Leader of the Bioinformatics & Data Management Group and Principal Investigator of the project, provided a comprehensive overview of the cluster’s capabilities and its role in genomic research.
The newly commissioned HPC cluster features twelve compute nodes, offering a total of 700 cores and 1 petabyte of storage. The infrastructure is tailored to support complex bioinformatics workflows including next-generation sequencing (NGS), transcriptomics, phylogenetics, metagenomics, and structural bioinformatics. Initially, the facility will serve five ICMR institutes across the country, acting as a central repository for sequencing data and extending support to Viral Research and Diagnostic Laboratories (VRDLs) in the near future. This makes the Pune-based institute a critical hub for outbreak investigations and pandemic preparedness, with the potential to accelerate AI-driven drug and vaccine discovery.
Dr. Sanghmitra Pati, Additional Director General of ICMR and Dr. Nivedita Gupta, Head of Communicable Diseases, also graced the event. The inaugural ceremony was attended by senior scientists from ICMR-NIV and representatives from Netweb Technologies, the agency entrusted with deploying the high-performance computing (HPC) solution. This occasion marks a significant milestone in integrating advanced computational infrastructure into India’s health research ecosystem.
“What This Means for India
The commissioning of the NAKSHATRA HPC facility is not just a technological upgrade—it is a national investment in speed, precision, and preparedness. By enabling faster analysis of complex genomic data, the facility positions India to detect new disease threats sooner, respond to outbreaks more efficiently, and accelerate AI-driven vaccine and drug development. In essence, this initiative makes India future-ready for public health emergencies.
