SINGAPORE - Tucked inside the National University of Singapore’s Centre for Life Sciences is a data centre with a pulse.

Unlike traditional server farms running on silicon chips, this facility processes data using living human brain cells.

Every three days, lab technicians feed the brain cells a cocktail of sugar, micronutrients and pH buffers. A gas mixer pumps in carbon dioxide, oxygen and nitrogen, providing a dedicated life support system.

The brainchild of Australian biotech startup Cortical Labs, the setup went live on July 16.

Cortical Labs has joined forces with NUS and data centre operator DayOne to bring the concept to Singapore for their internal research and development. Their tie-up was first announced in March.

It has commercialised a similar biological data centre in Melbourne, its first in the world.

Chong Hon Weng, Cortical Labs founder and chief executive, said that biological data centres are better suited for applications where datasets may be limited and ...