diff --git a/DESCRIPTION b/DESCRIPTION
index 4932a7e..2d59bce 100644
--- a/DESCRIPTION
+++ b/DESCRIPTION
@@ -26,7 +26,8 @@ Depends:
 Imports:
     BiocGenerics,
     Rcpp (>= 0.11.3),
-    MASS
+    MASS,
+    irlba
 Suggests:
     matrixStats,
     lattice,
diff --git a/NAMESPACE b/NAMESPACE
index f1627bf..ce6a44a 100644
--- a/NAMESPACE
+++ b/NAMESPACE
@@ -60,4 +60,5 @@ import(Biobase)
 import(BiocGenerics)
 import(methods)
 importFrom(Rcpp,evalCpp)
+importFrom(irlba,prcomp_irlba)
 useDynLib(pcaMethods)
diff --git a/R/pca.R b/R/pca.R
index 3ccda3d..372d1f3 100644
--- a/R/pca.R
+++ b/R/pca.R
@@ -9,12 +9,12 @@
 listPcaMethods <- function(which=c("all", "linear", "nonlinear")) {
   switch(match.arg(which),
          all={
-           return(c("svd", "nipals", "rnipals", "bpca", "ppca",
+           return(c("svd", "irlba", "nipals", "rnipals", "bpca", "ppca",
                     "svdImpute", "robustPca", "nlpca", "llsImpute",
                     "llsImputeAll"))
          },
          linear={
-           return(c("svd", "nipals", "rnipals", "bpca", "ppca",
+           return(c("svd", "irlba", "nipals", "rnipals", "bpca", "ppca",
                     "svdImpute", "robustPca"))
          },
          nonlinear={
@@ -123,11 +123,13 @@ pca <- function(object, method, nPcs=2,
   }
   else if(inherits(object, "ExpressionSet")) {
     Matrix <- t(exprs(object))
-  } else
-  Matrix <- as.matrix(object, rownames.force=TRUE)
+  } else if (inherits(object, "sparseMatrix"))
+    Matrix <- object
+  else
+    Matrix <- as.matrix(object, rownames.force=TRUE)
 
   if(!is.null(subset)) 
-    Matrix <- Matrix[,subset]
+    Matrix <- Matrix[, subset, drop = FALSE]
   
   cv <- match.arg(cv)
   scale <- match.arg(scale)
@@ -150,6 +152,8 @@ pca <- function(object, method, nPcs=2,
   if(missing(method)) {
     if(any(missing))
       method <- 'nipals'
+    else if(inherits(Matrix, 'sparseMatrix'))
+      method <- 'irlba'
     else
       method <- 'svd'
   }
@@ -165,6 +169,15 @@ pca <- function(object, method, nPcs=2,
          svd={
            res <- svdPca(prepres$data, nPcs=nPcs,...)   
          },
+         irlba=if(inherits(prepres$data, "sparseMatrix")) {
+           # The matrix was not actually preprocessed, we just pass the arguments on
+           res <- irlbaPca(prepres$data, nPcs=nPcs,
+                           scale=prepres$scale == "uv",
+                           center=prepres$center,
+                           ...) 
+         } else {
+           res <- irlbaPca(prepres$data, nPcs=nPcs, ...)
+         },
          nipals={
            res <- nipalsPca(prepres$data, nPcs=nPcs, ...) 
          },
@@ -350,7 +363,8 @@ plotPcs <- function(object,
 ##' @param verbose Verbose complaints to matrix structure
 ##' @param ... Only used for passing through arguments.
 ##' @return A \code{pcaRes} object.
-##' @seealso \code{prcomp}, \code{princomp}, \code{pca}
+##' @seealso \code{\link[stats]{prcomp}}, \code{\link[stats]{princomp}},
+##' \code{\link{pca}}
 ##' @examples
 ##' data(metaboliteDataComplete)
 ##' mat <- prep(t(metaboliteDataComplete))
@@ -378,6 +392,32 @@ svdPca <- function(Matrix, nPcs=2,
   return(res)
 }
 
+
+##' @importFrom irlba prcomp_irlba
+irlbaPca <- function(
+  Matrix,
+  nPcs = 2,
+  varLimit = 1,
+  verbose = interactive(),
+  center = TRUE,
+  scale. = FALSE,
+  ...
+) {
+  pcs <- prcomp_irlba(Matrix, center = center, scale. = scale)
+  imp <- summary(pcs)$importance
+  if (varLimit < 1)
+    nPcs <- sum(imp[3, ] < varLimit) + 1
+  
+  res <- new("pcaRes")
+  res@scores <- cbind(pcs$x[, seq_len(nPcs)])
+  res@loadings <- cbind(pcs$rotation[, seq_len(nPcs)])
+  res@R2cum <- imp[3, seq_len(nPcs)]
+  res@varLimit <- varLimit
+  res@method <- "irlba"
+  res
+}
+
+
 ##' Get a confidence ellipse for uncorrelated bivariate data
 ##'
 ##' As described in 'Introduction to multi and megavariate data analysis
diff --git a/R/prep.R b/R/prep.R
index 8ff87d5..13864dd 100644
--- a/R/prep.R
+++ b/R/prep.R
@@ -44,8 +44,13 @@ prep <- function(object, scale=c("none", "pareto", "vector", "uv"),
                  center=TRUE, eps=1e-12, simple=TRUE, reverse=FALSE, ...) {
   if(inherits(object, "ExpressionSet"))
     obj <- t(exprs(object))
-  else
+  else if(!inherits(object, 'sparseMatrix'))
+    obj <- as.matrix(object)
+  else if (!is.null(scale) && !(scale %in% c("none", "uv"))) {
+    warning("Sparse matrices only support the 'uv' scaling. Converting to a dense matrix")
     obj <- as.matrix(object)
+  } else  # let irlba handle sparse matrices for now
+    return(list(data = object, center = center, scale = scale))
 
   if(is.null(center))
     center <- FALSE
diff --git a/man/svdPca.Rd b/man/svdPca.Rd
index 4af86e5..a4a4c77 100644
--- a/man/svdPca.Rd
+++ b/man/svdPca.Rd
@@ -40,7 +40,8 @@ pc <- pca(t(metaboliteDataComplete), method="svd", nPcs=2)
 \dontshow{stopifnot(sum((fitted(pc) - t(metaboliteDataComplete))^2, na.rm=TRUE) < 200)}
 }
 \seealso{
-\code{prcomp}, \code{princomp}, \code{pca}
+\code{\link[stats]{prcomp}}, \code{\link[stats]{princomp}},
+\code{\link{pca}}
 }
 \author{
 Henning Redestig