Researchers at the University of Missouri are developing a rewritable DNA data storage system, likened to a DNA hard drive. Their method uses "frameshift encoding" to write data and a "nanopore sensor" to read it by detecting electrical changes as DNA strands pass through.
The team highlights the system's potential for extraordinary storage density, longevity, and rewritability as key advances. However, the project remains in early stages without public prototypes or detailed timelines, with a long-term goal of achieving a thumb-drive-sized device.
The main topics covered are the development of a rewritable DNA storage system, the specific encoding and reading technologies involved, and the project's potential advantages and current early-state limitations.
New DNA HDD can be ‘erased and overwritten repeatedly’ — University of Missouri researchers aiming for next-gen thumb-drive-sized storage
Scientists are being cagey about the write mechanism, but say ‘a nanopore sensor’ will be used for reads.
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We’ve written about DNA storage and its potential several times before. However, the University of Missouri (Mizzou) is developing a “DNA hard drive,” which “moves the field closer to a practical, rewritable system.” That’s good, as readers prefer practical solutions to pie-in-the-sky projects, and rewritables are particularly attractive. Unfortunately, Mizzou’s blog post on its DNA hard drive advance is pretty light on technical details, and doesn’t share any prototype photos, demo statistics, or availability timescales, for example.
“DNA is incredible — it stores life’s blueprint in a tiny, stable package,” Li-Qun ‘Andrew’ Gu, a professor of chemical and biomedical engineering at Mizzou’s College of Engineering, gushes. “We wanted to see if we could store and rewrite information at the molecular level faster, simpler, and more efficiently than ever before.”
We know of the potential of DNA from prior published works, news from other academic institutions such as MIT, and details from the University of Washington’s well-publicized collaborations with Microsoft, among many others. So, what makes Mizzou’s advances stand out from the crowd? It is touted to be an irresistible mix of simplicity, speed, and rewritability.
Gu’s team claims to have developed a method to store, erase, and overwrite DNA data repeatedly. Indeed, this would make the Mizzou DNA HDD attractive and practical – with its “extraordinary storage density and longevity,” due to the nature of DNA.
Frameshift encoding and Nanopore sensing
Mizzou doesn’t divulge details of the writing methodology in its blog post, but we unearthed the associated research paper, which says it uses "frameshift encoding" to write data. This technique is an emerging approach among several groups looking at rewritable DNA storage.
The Mizzou blog briefly explains its DNA reading method, though. The team has designed “a compact electronic device paired with a molecular-scale detector called a nanopore sensor,” it is explained. This read head, since we are using HDD terminology, senses the subtle electrical changes as DNA passes through its field, and electronics/software converts the DNA’s A, C, G, and T sequences into binary.
The academics assert that their project, which leverages the university’s experts in fields such as physics, biology, data, and materials sciences, marks a “key milestone in making DNA a long-term replacement for some of today’s energy-hungry storage technologies.” That’s pretty bold for a project that admittedly has a “long-term” hope to shrink its DNA HDD to USB thumb-drive size. Moreover, we haven’t even seen the non-miniaturized prototypes or demos yet. We’ll stay tuned, but think it will be a while before we see any DNA-data thumb drives on Amazon…
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Mark Tyson is a news editor at Tom's Hardware. He enjoys covering the full breadth of PC tech; from business and semiconductor design to products approaching the edge of reason.
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