According to Bio IT World, life science researchers have embraced the cloud for many reasons, but the biggest one is computing power. 

Few disciplines have seen more rapid adoption of cloud computing than life sciences research. Datasets are easily anonymized; pipelines are generally comprised of cloud-friendly open-source tools, and data are often shared, making the cloud a convenient meeting point. Overshadowing all of these reasons, however, is an insatiable demand for computing power.