DNA-Based+Storage

**Topic Overview**
Our DNA comprises all of our genetic codes. It holds all the information on how each of us looks from hair color to fingerprints. DNA storage is an idea that takes all of the storage potential of DNA and uses it as a medium to store data. All of the world’s data (1.8 zettabytes) could be stored in 4 grams of DNA. [4] The way it works is by using binary code. DNA is made up of 4 bases T,G,A, and C. T and G pairs represent the binary value of 0 and A and C pairs represent 1. [5] By being able to read the pairs, data can be decoded in a similar manner to how magnetic storage mediums work (use positive and negative charges as the 1 and 0 binary values).

DNA data storage has some advantages and some disadvantages. Currently DNA encoding and decoding is costly, however the price to store and retrieve data is decreasing by about a half every year. DNA has other drawbacks as a storage medium other than price. Currently DNA data can only be stored in smaller strands of DNA. Large files need to be broken up and they need to have a tag to identify the rest of the data. There is also a small chance for a strand to be encoded or decoded incorrectly. Currently the work around for resolving this error is having multiple redundant copies of a file in case one of them is corrupt. DNA storage does come with a unique advantage however:data can be replicated simply by splitting a solution of DNA in two. The multitude of copies of files makes it easy do transfer copies, unlike hard drives today where they have to be manually connected and have the data from one written onto the other. [14]

**Description**
The process of storing data involves the synthesizing of strands of DNA after they have been converted from regular computer formats. These strands can store about 96 bits of memory. The procedure starts with information encoded in regular computer code. This information can be audio, video or any other type of relevant file format. Regardless of what type of format it is, the information is represented by strings of zeros and ones that later get converted by a special program into the letters that make up the DNA code (A, C, G, T) [7]. The new data is then made into DNA and sequenced by machines that read back the new DNA fragments as the letters A,C,G and T, as seen in the above picture [16]. Then it just becomes a matter of time as to when the information stored in the fragments is needed again. When that time comes, a computer program can be used to reassemble all of the fragments correctly and then convert them back to the initial ones and zeros that the procedure started out with. The same format that the original file was converted from is available once again and can be played back in any working computer.

According to Ewan Berney, associate director of the European Bioinformatics Institute (EBI), there are major advantages of using this process as a means of storing information. For example, using DNA as a storage mechanism doesn't require electricity. Think about all the computers in the world today that store information; it would be safe to say that without electricity, not one of them would function as intended. Also, DNA serves as an incredibly dense and stable medium for data storage. That's probably why DNA that's over 700,000 years old can be and has been recovered. So it doesn't take much of anything really to maintain DNA-stored information as all you need to do is "...keep it dry, cold, and in the dark" [13].



**Applications**
The technology is still very new so there isn’t much of it used at the moment. Due to the newness of the technology it is very expensive. Once this process takes off we will use this in our everyday lives. DNA data storage will eliminate hard drives as well as magnetic tape for storage. The reason for the change is that it holds so much data in so little space. Once we transfer everything into DNA storage we can have the entire contents of the Internet on just 4 grams of space; which is equivalent to about 4 paperclips in size.

There’s no telling what we can do with this technology. It will make storage seem like the least of our worries. We can save data for tens of thousands of years in old DNA. However, it doesn’t stop there. We can also store data in live cells of DNA. This means it may be possible for us to become walking USBs or something of the sort. Since information and data is increasing at enormous rates everyday we need technology like this to expand our storage within ourselves. We will get to a point in time when the data transfer is quick and lasting and everyday workers will be using this technology to get business done. That's the beauty of DNA storage is that everyone has DNA so everyone can use the technology surrounding it. Regardless of occupation people all around the world will be more synced with their computers and data storage will not only be in out brains, but our cells throughout our bodies too.

**Prior Data Storage Technology**
Data storage began in it's most simple forms thousands of years ago. Arguably some of the first data storage created by humans were paintings on the walls of caves and caverns, some of which can still be seen today. After the invention of writing became widespread stone tablets and papyrus paper were used to store stories, myths, and legends for future generations. Much more recently, punch cards were used to store information and were eventually able to be read by early computers [12]. Magnetic tape was initially used in 1951 and remained highly popular up until the early 1980s [8]. In 1956 the first hard disk drive had appeared with 50 24 inch disks which gave it almost 5 MB of total storage [8]. The 5 and 1/4 inch floppy was the first floppy of reasonable size in 1976 and stood it's ground until it was outsold by the 3 and a half inch diskette in 1988. The tech needed for CD-ROMs was actually invented in the 1960s by James T. Russel however it took until the early 1990s to become widespread. However it was not long after that the true exponential growth of data storage truly took shape [9].

In 1995 the CD-ROM evolved into the DVD which had 4 GB of storage [12]. Three years later the ever shrinking size of hard drives allowed the creation of IBM's USB flash drive which hit the market in 2000 and held 8 BG of storage [1]. It only took 13 years for flash drives with a size of 512 GB, which is a staggering 64 times larger, to be created and sold [10]. The most recent popular advancement for hard drive technology has been the Solid State drive or SSD. SSD's use integrated circuits to store data and have no moving parts providing a large speed advantage over the original hard drives [15].



**Future Progress**
Currently the progress of DNA based storage is being slowed by lengthy and expensive production. It is becoming more expensive to record the data from DNA studies than to actually run the experiments. [14] To read DNA it costs around 220 dollars per megabyte and over 12,000 dollars to write into DNA. This would be a very expensive task for universities or private sectors to research. As of January 2013, it has been estimated by Dr. Nick Goldman, at the European Bioinformatics Institute in Hinxton, that in 10 years DNA studies should be 100 times cheaper. [16] Once the prices subside, it should become a popular research topic.

Another issue is the problem of working with such a large amount of data. The most obvious difficulty is storing data about the research. It adds to the cost and time for research and development. Since a single gram of DNA can store 700 terabytes of data, it takes a lot of space to store analysis results. [17] The massive amount of information also lends itself to errors. However, they have already determined that stopping repetitive strings greatly reduces the error rate. [14] Researchers are already aware of this and believe the next project should be increasing the efficiency of DNA coding. [4] Given the greater density and durability of DNA, further research seems highly likely.


 * Resources:**


 * 1) [|8MB USB Memory Key - Overview] at Lenovo
 * 2) [|Archives Could Last Thousands of Years] at The Economist
 * 3) [|CD Rom DVD Floppy Disk and USB] image at Colourbox
 * 4) [|DNA May Soon Be Used for Storage] at Computerworld
 * 5) [|DNA is the Next Big Data Storage Technology] at Industry Tap
 * 6) [|Genetic Code] at National Institute of Health
 * 7) [|Harvard Cracks DNA Storage] at Extremetech
 * 8) [|The history of computer data storage, in pictures] at Pingdom
 * 9) [|A history of data storage] at Dell
 * 10) [|Kingston DataTraveler HyperX Predator 512GB USB 3.0 Flash Drive] at Legitreviews
 * 11) [|Next Generation Digital Information Storage] at Science Mag
 * 12) [|The Past, Present, & Future of Data Storage] at Slideshare
 * 13) [|The Promise of DNA-based Storage] at HPC Wire
 * 14) [|Saving Civilisation in One Room] at the BBC
 * 15) [|Solid State Storage 101] at Solid State Storage Initiative
 * 16) [|Storing Digital Data in DNA] at The Wall Street Journal Online
 * 17) [|Translate your Text to DNA Code] at the Brigham Young University - Hawaii