Bina Technologies

About Bina Technologies

Bina Technologies, now a part of Roche Sequencing, operated as a big data science company focused on genomic analysis. The company was established by Narges Bani Asadi, who founded Bina based on a decade of her research at Stanford University and UC Berkeley. Born in Iran, Bani Asadi earned her undergraduate degree from the University of Tehran before pursuing a PhD in Electrical Engineering at Stanford. Her interest in applying computational methods to analyze complex diseases like cancer led to the creation of Bina Technologies in Silicon Valley to make healthcare more data-driven.

The company's core offering was the Bina Genomic Management Solution (GMS), a comprehensive platform designed for the scalable processing and management of next-generation sequencing (NGS) data. This solution catered to clinical and translational researchers, academic institutions, and pharmaceutical companies, enabling them to derive insights from vast genomic datasets. The business model combined hardware and software, offering a physical "Bina Box" with an annual software subscription that included support and training. For clients who preferred not to have on-premise hardware, the company also provided its platform via public or private cloud deployments and a pay-as-you-go service called Bina On-Demand.

The GMS platform provided an end-to-end solution for genomic analysis. It performed secondary analysis, such as alignment and variant calling, and tertiary analysis, which involves annotating and filtering data to extract biological meaning. Key features included the ability to analyze a whole exome in as little as 30 minutes, process hundreds of exomes per month, and handle workflows for various DNA and RNA analyses. In December 2014, Roche acquired Bina Technologies for an undisclosed amount, integrating it into the Roche Sequencing Unit. This acquisition aimed to enhance Roche's personalized healthcare strategy by incorporating Bina's informatics and data management capabilities into its end-to-end sequencing solutions. Bani Asadi continued to lead clinical software development and AI research as VP of Informatics at Roche Sequencing until 2018.