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Years Of Human Genome Data Lost In UCSC Fire

Posted by timothy on from the no-backups-at-ben-stein's-alma-mater dept.

dsavitsk links to a New York Times article which reports that several years of data related to the human genome project have been lost in a fire at the University of California at Santa Cruz, seemingly with no backup.

2 of 44 comments (clear)

  1. No mention of Data ... by gus+goose · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Why must we assume that what was lost was data/computers.

    From my take on the article, it was physical strands of DNA / biological matter which was lost.

    gus

    --
    .. if only.
  2. Backups by leastsquares · · Score: 4, Insightful

    The fire probably didn't destroy much (or any) electronic data. But the genetic strains should have been "backed up" just as any of us know that we should backup our data.

    My girlfriend's previous employment was in a lab that appears similar to this blackened one. They carried out research using cell lines with genetic traits that had taken years to develop. These cells can generally be frozen for later use, but since the freezer is in the same building a fire could destroy that too. So they donated cell-lines to other research groups, on the condition that they stored a portion of the sample.

    Accidents happen. Data-loss doesn't need to.