THIS IS HISTORY! Check fabien.benetou.fr for news.

Seedea, scalable creativity

Xye, consultancy for serious creators

Information

RSS

(Updates)


(:addthis:)

CoEvolution > Oimp > MetaDNA

metaDNA

General discussion

use the dedicated page.

Team
Initiator : faceface
Adviser : Fabien

Goal

To encode data as DNA, allowing the storage of vast quantities of data 'in a cupboard'. Advantage: we get massive data transfer rates by shipping DNA (e.g using UPS).

Abstract

New advances in DNA sequencing technology promise to revolutionize the fields of biology and health care. The human genome project, initiated in 1990, took just 13 years to complete at a cost of approximately $3 Bn [cite HGP]. Today, obtaining the complete sequence of an individual costs 100,000 times less at approximately $30,000, and takes approximately 1 day to obtain [cite 1000 GP]. The acceleration in the progress of DNA sequencing technology shows no sign of slowing. It is estimated that capacity increases by a factor of 100 every year [cite Richard Durbin, personal communication].

However, these phenomenal technological advances in the field of molecular biology, they have created a new bottleneck in the scientific discovery pipeline. Namely, the cost of data storage.

DNA can store 1021 bits per gram http://www.sciencemag.org/cgi/reprint/296/5567/478.pdf. This compares favorably with conventional storage at around 1014 bits per gram, (blu-ray: 200GB/16g) for a one-million-fold improvement. How to effectively utilize this awesome storage capacity?

Here we propose an alternative storage medium for long term archival of data, DNA. We present a DNA encoding algorithm that is optimized for data recovery, outline a novel design for a microfluidic DNA sequencing chip and describe a DNA protectant that will allow for long term storage of DNA in ambient conditions.

Problem abstraction

The problem with 'next generation' DNA sequencing (nextGen) is that it is too good. The technologies are generating too much data too quickly. Simply put, we don't have enough hard disks to keep pace with the data storage requirements.

How do you cope with this situation?

In situ example

  1. Company A gather a sample S from a living organism
  2. Company A studies it and produces a result R that is a very large amount of data including specific DNA samples (original and modified)
  3. Company A works for a Client K that requires additional work on R and eventually S by company B
  4. R+S are information that needed to be shipped as fast as possible by A to B
  5. We encode R+S in P thanks to our specific method and ship it to B

Proposed solutions

Design a 'DNA encoding' that maximizes ease of reading

  1. the DNA encoding - lots of check sums and handling of repeat regions
  2. the 'DNA protectant molecule that we use to store data at rtp

Complete process

  1. ?
  2. design a micro fluidic dna sequencing chamber
  3. ?

Opportunity

microfluidics is getting very cheap, so its easy to design and print a 'chip' that will control the flow of ATCG into a reaction chamber.

Business model

Market and trends

Alternatives

To explore

References

Important related patents

Relations that would be interested

Marketing

Project name

Tag line

DNA is a fantastic storage medium. It has a track record of 4 billions years.

DNA, it'll store your ass off.

To explore

Page last modified on January 30, 2009, at 05:42 PM