PepsiCo has recently begun to use the U’s bioinformatics research resources, including the University of Minnesota Genomics Center (UMGC) and MSI, to help them with crop research and development. PepsiCo’s scientists are using MSI’s bioinformatics hardware and software to process genomics data generated by the UMGC. PepsiCo researchers can use MSI’s resources from their locations in St. Paul or New York state. Also, since the datasets generated for this research are huge, data transfer can be a problem. MSI has specialized tools that allow this transfer to happen quickly and securely. This new work builds off an existing partnership with the College of Food, Agricultural, and Natural Resource Sciences.
The OVPR’s Inquiry blog featured a story about some recent work with the natural sweetener stevia. Director of Research Computing Claudia Neuhauser is quoted in the story: U genomics, computing helps Pepsico supercharge crop research.