Data is in our DNA”: Researchers advance DNA as a memory material

April 22, 2021

The color of a person’s eyes, the thickness of a potato’s skin, and the shape of a flower: what do these seemingly disparate elements have in common? They are all shaped by DNA. Deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) encodes and carries the genetic instructions that shape life. But what if it could encode more than genetic information, such as digital archival data?

It might sound like something out of a science fiction movie, but in a novel study published in Nature Communications, members of Boise State’s Nucleic Acid Memory Institute revealed that the future of digital memory storage may be found in utilizing the programmable qualities of chemically synthesized DNA.

“We are simply taking advantage of the information density and programmability of DNA as a memory material,” explained Micron School of Materials Science and Engineering professor Will Hughes…

rofessor at Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich), and could make it possible to encode and store data in DNA, making it accessible tens or hundreds of thousands of years later, unlike modern memory storage.

As a steppingstone towards this goal, the team believes the research could prove to be valuable in applications that demand a small amount of data to be encoded into an exceedingly small package.

While archival storage is an aspirational goal for the field, “digital Nucleic Acid Memory is attractive for applications that demand a limited amount of data to have high information density, redundancy, and copy number such as encrypted barcodes,” said Hughes.

https://www.boisestate.edu/news/2021/04/22/data-is-in-our-dna-researchers-advance-dna-as-a-memory-material/