Bioinformatics on a Rock64

I have been fascinated with mini computers for some time, and have wondered when they will become suitable for bioinformatics. The 4273π project, which is an online course that is distributed as a 32Gb SD card image for the Raspberry Pi, has been around for a few years and demonstrated the utility of mini computers for training. The course is a proof of principle that bioinformatics software can work on a mini computer; the distributed software includes some comparative genomics and phylogenetics programs. However there is not much one can do with 1Gb RAM. The data in 4273π are small FASTA files, and while the Raspberry Pi is powerful enough to allow for experimentation and exploration of such datasets, even the new Raspberry Pi 3, with ten times the performance of the original 2012 model, still only has 1Gb of RAM and is not powerful enough for handling the current primary data type of genomics: high-throughput sequencing data.

Enter the Rock64.

The Rock64 is a new single-board computer from Pine64 that competes with the Raspberry Pi 3:

The Rock64 is evidence of the rapid and impressive development in single-board computers over the past few years, and Pine64 crosses a major threshold by offering a model with 4Gb RAM. The machine is also cheap. A 4Gb RAM Rock64, which is a 64-bit, quad core 1.5GHz machine, costs $44.95 (the 1Gb model is just $24.95). An enclosure is $7.95, a power supply $6.99, and a 64Gb SSD drive is only $31.95 (the 16Gb drive is $15.95). When my student Jase Gehring found out the specs of the machine last summer, he immediately realized that it was powerful enough to run kallisto for RNA-Seq analyses, and we preordered a handful of the boards for the lab. These arrived in the fall and we have been testing the machines for a while. One of them is hooked up to a monitor, and together with a bluetooth mouse and keyboard is serving as a general desktop computer in the wet lab. They are extraordinary versatile mini computers that, in my opinion, portend a future of mobile, low-cost, and light-weight computing for clinical and field genomics applications.

Unfortunately ARM is not an architecture known to most computational biologists, and my initial enthusiasm for the Rock64 was dampened when I found out that most genomics software does not work on ARM architecture. However I managed to install R, and Páll Melsted compiled kallisto on the Rock64 for the new release of version 0.44 (the release introduces an ARM binary, along with pseudobam for visualization of pseudoalignments). With these programs in place on Gibraltar (our first Rock64 with 4Gb of RAM, a 64Gb SSD drive, and a quad-core 1.5GHz processor), there was ample processing power to quantify RNA-Seq datasets.

For example, I was able to build the Saccharomyces cerevisae release 81 transcriptome index in one minute. A complete quantification of 6 samples from Ellahi, Thurtle and Rine, 2015 using two cores (with 30 bootstraps per sample) took 21 minutes. The quantification consisted of processing 47,744,312 paired-end reads. Amazingly, the Rock64 can quantify human RNA-Seq, which requires pseudoalignment of reads to a much larger transcriptome than yeast. A human 15,117,833 paired-end read sample (SRR493366) took less than 11 minutes to quantify using a single core. These results show that the Rock64 is not a toy; it can be used for the analysis of high-throughput sequencing data from substantial biological experiments.

It’s mind boggling to consider just how amazing it is to be able to quantify RNA-Seq on such a machine. When we developed kallisto we knew that the two orders of magnitude speedup was a game-changer, but I never thought we would literally be able to run it on what is not much more than a phone. We’re not going to switch over all of our RNA-Seq analyses to the Rock64s quite yet, but cluster assemblies such as the Pico5S have piqued my interest.

I imagine that it won’t be long before mini computers are even more powerful, and provide ultra low-cost portable alternatives to current server and cloud computing solutions. Having said that, I still miss my Commodore 64. Fortunately the mini revolution isn’t leaving me behind: a mini version of the C64 is slated for release early this year.

Terry Speed: a “male feminist”

On April 11th 2016, I contacted the Office for Prevention of Harassment and Discrimination at UC Berkeley to report that Professor Terry Speed had sexually harassed a postdoctoral researcher in the UC Berkeley statistics department in the period 2000–2002. Two specific allegations were subsequently investigated:

Allegation One: Respondent, a professor in the Statistics Department, sexually harassed Complainant One, a post-doctoral student in the same department, from 2000-2002 by making sexual advances toward her, asking her for dates, telling her he had a “crush” on her, giving her hugs, and communicating with her, including by email, in an intimate or romantic manner, when such behavior was not welcome.

Allegation Two: Respondent, a professor in the Statistics Department, created a hostile work environment for Complainant Two, an Assistant Professor in the Mathematics Department, in 2002, through Respondent’s persistent discussions and emails regarding his romantic interest in Complainant One and by pressuring Complainant Two to persuade Complainant One to interact with Respondent.

The investigation took 14 months to complete, and the result was a 47 page report along with 89 pages of supporting evidence based on interviews, hundreds of pages of emails that I disclosed at the outset of the investigation, and letters and emails provided by Respondent. The report concludes as follows:

CONCLUSION
For the reasons stated above, I conclude that the preponderance of the evidence substantiates that Respondent violated the 1992 Sexual Harassment Policy in that he engaged in unwelcome conduct of a sexual nature that created a hostile environment for Complainant One and Complainant Two, and conditioned an academic or personnel decision on Complainant One’s submission to his conduct. This report is being submitted to the Vice Provost for Faculty for review under the Faculty Code of Conduct.

I have waited since June of last year to hear from the Vice Provost for Faculty at UC Berkeley what action the university will take in light of the findings, however despite multiple requests for information the university has yet to respond as to whether it will enact any sanctions on Respondent.

My close-up encounter with sexual harassment was devastating. I never expected, when I arrived in Berkeley in 1999, that Terry Speed, a senior professor in my field who I admired and thought of as a mentor would end up as Respondent and myself as Complainant Two. However much more serious and significant than my ordeal were the devastating consequences his sexual harassment had on the life and well being of Complainant One. The sexual harassment that took place was not an isolated event. Despite repeated verbal and written requests by Complainant One that Speed stop, his sexual harassment continued unabated for months. The case was not reported at the time the sexual harassment happened because of the structure of Title IX. Complainant One knew that Speed would be informed if a complaint was made, and Complainant One was terrified of reprisal. Her fear was not hypothetical; after months of asking Speed to stop sexually harassing her, he communicated to her that, unless she was willing to reconcile with him as he wished, she could not count on his recommendation.

Speed has been an advocate for women in academia in recent years. However no amount of advocacy on behalf of women can cancel out the physical and mental harm caused by prolonged sexual harassment. Speed’s self-proclamation that he is a “male feminist” rings hollow.

Update on June 6, 2018: Terry Speed is no longer listed as Professor Emeritus at UC Berkeley.

Update on June 22, 2018: This is the “notice of outcome” I received from UC Berkeley regarding the case: