NVIDIA GPUshave been used to uncover the inner workings of the human genome, finding that it works in folds in the same way as origami.

Researchers from Baylor College of Medicine, Rice University, MIT and Harvard University said they used the graphics processors to map in unprecedented detail how the human genome folds.

This new information might provide new clues for cell function as well as new approaches to combat cancer and other complex diseases, Nvidia said.

Led by Erez Aiden, assistant professor of genetics at Baylor and assistant professor of computer science and computational and applied mathematics at Rice, the project found that the human genome is folded into around 10,000 loops.

These loops form when two widely separated bits of DNA come into contact in the folded version of the genome in a cell's nucleus.

The researchers learned that these loops and other genome folding patterns are an essential part of genetic regulation.

Genes can be switched on or off just by folding the genome into different shapes, allowing cells to take on a wide range of functions.

The research team relied on high-performance computer clusters and custom algorithms via the Nvidia GPUs to analyse large quantities of genome data.

"We faced a real challenge because we were asking how each of the millions of pieces of DNA in the database interact with each of the other millions of pieces," said Miriam Huntley, a doctoral student at Harvard's School of Engineering and Applied Sciences.

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Nvidia GPUs could help combat cancer in human genome research