The Faculty of Technical Sciences joins GenomeDK collaboration
We are happy to announce that the Faculty of Technical Sciences (TECH) at Aarhus University has joined the GenomeDK collaboration.
GenomeDK is a collaboration between the Faculty of Natural Sciences (NAT), the Faculty of Health Sciences (HEALTH), the Central Denmark Region (RM) – and now also TECH. By joining the collaboration, TECH becomes an active partner in GenomeDK and will help influence its strategic direction going forward.
As part of the agreement, Mogens Sandø Lund from the Department of Quantitative Genetics and Genomics (QGG) will represent TECH in both GenomeDK’s Strategic Steering Committee and Leader Forum, giving TECH a direct role in the strategic development and governance of the infrastructure.
Modern HPC infrastructure for TECH researchers¶
For TECH researchers, the agreement provides access to the full GenomeDK infrastructure on the same conditions as researchers from NAT, HEALTH, and RM. GenomeDK provides more than 20,000 CPU cores, modern GPU resources including NVIDIA H200 and L40S GPUs, high-speed networking, and petabyte-scale storage and backup infrastructure. The infrastructure is operated within GenomeDK’s ISO 27001-certified information security management system, providing a secure platform for both computationally demanding research and projects involving sensitive data.
“Access to modern HPC infrastructure has become increasingly important across the research areas at TECH, but until now we have not had access to a large, modern HPC facility locally at Aarhus University on the same terms as our colleagues at NAT and HEALTH. Joining GenomeDK changes that. It gives TECH researchers straightforward access to substantial compute, GPU and storage resources and, just as importantly, gives TECH a voice in how the infrastructure develops in the future.”
— Mogens Sandø Lund, QGG, representing TECH in the GenomeDK collaboration
A step towards a stronger HPC ecosystem at AU¶
The agreement also aligns closely with Aarhus University’s new HPC strategy, Sammen om styrket HPC på AU. The strategy sets out a vision for a robust, secure and internationally competitive HPC environment that supports research, education, innovation and research-based consultancy across all faculties. A central principle is that this should be achieved through greater collaboration and coordination across the university.
Among the goals are broader access to HPC, better utilisation of existing infrastructure, economies of scale in procurement and operation, stronger information security and increased interdisciplinary collaboration. The strategy also calls for closer coordination of future investments and greater sharing of compute and storage resources across AU.
TECH joining GenomeDK is a concrete step in that direction. By sharing an established HPC infrastructure across faculties, researchers gain easier access to substantial computing resources while investments, operations, security and expertise can be shared more efficiently. At the same time, TECH’s representation in GenomeDK’s governance ensures that the faculty’s research needs can directly influence how the infrastructure develops.
From engineering simulations to AI and data-intensive research¶
Despite the name, GenomeDK is used for much more than genomics. Researchers use the infrastructure across a broad range of disciplines, including engineering, chemistry, physics, bioinformatics, genetics and precision medicine.
One recent TECH use case, for example, used large-scale simulations to study bubble dynamics and turbulence for maritime drag reduction, demonstrating how GenomeDK can support computationally demanding engineering research. GenomeDK is also used for research involving large datasets, machine learning and AI, as well as interactive research and teaching environments.
This breadth closely reflects the motivation behind AU’s HPC strategy, which highlights the growing importance of large-scale modelling, data analysis, artificial intelligence and machine learning across disciplines.
Agreement takes effect from 2026¶
The agreement with TECH takes effect from and including 2026. This means that all GenomeDK usage by TECH researchers during 2026 will be considered internal usage, and no invoices will be sent directly to TECH users for their usage. In the near future, all TECH institute heads will receive information on the details of the agreement.
We are very happy to welcome TECH to the collaboration and look forward to supporting even more computational and data-intensive research across Aarhus University.