SBIR Phase I: Scalable DNA Archiving

小型企业创新研究(SBIR)项目的更广泛影响/商业潜力是开发一种常温核酸样本管理系统，该系统可以高效且经济高效地进行扩展，以满足生命科学和数据科学的需求。最近的市场趋势显示，DNA存档和访问需求显著扩大，应用于个人基因组学服务，用于健康和祖先；法医、精确医学和农业样本存储；以及未来使用DNA序列的数字信息存储。目前市场上可用的DNA存储方法依赖于房间大小的冷温存储，DNA通常保存在生物活性介质中，这种介质容易因冻融循环、电力故障、样品污染或样品丢失而降解。这项工作的目标是开发一种DNA样本管理方法，允许在环境中存储样本，并结合本地化学和热保护快速访问。这项工作将导致一种基于设备的样本管理方法，该方法将随着行业日益增长的需求而扩展。这项SBIR第一阶段项目建议开发可扩展的基于珠粒的DNA样本封装的技术和工程要求，可检索到用于下游克隆和测序的分子生物级纯度。微米级DNA样本的存档和获取将通过两个阶段的方法来完成，以保护和条形化单个样本。将开发新的工艺和协议，将DNA精确可靠地封装在10微米的凝聚颗粒中，此外还允许条形码识别。将专门开发方法，以便从颗粒中提取样品将是无损的，并为下游应用提供高质量的样品。随机访问将通过浓缩显示感兴趣的条形码的那些颗粒来实现。这项研究将导致一种革命性的微米级DNA档案管理体系结构，提供大量的容量改进，降低运营成本，并提高样本完整性。具体的技术创新包括用于长期DNA存档的DNA封装方法和用于检索的微粒的分子条形码。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力优势和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

The broader impact/commercial potential of this Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) project is the development of an ambient-temperature nucleic acid sample management system that can efficiently and cost-effectively scale to meet the demands of life science and data science needs. Recent market trends show a significant expansion in DNA archival and access requirements, with applications in personal genomics services for health and ancestry; forensic, precision medicine, and agricultural sample storage; and future digital information storage using DNA sequences. Current market-available DNA storage methods rely on cold-temperature storage in room-size chambers, with the DNA typically kept in biologically active media that is prone to degradation by freeze-thaw cycling, power failure, sample contamination, or sample loss. The goal of this work is to develop a method of DNA sample management that allows ambient sample storage combined with rapid access with native chemical and thermal protection. This work will lead to a device-based approach for sample management that will scale with the growing demands of industry.This SBIR Phase I project proposes to develop technological and engineering requirements for scalable bead-based encapsulation of DNA samples, retrievable with molecular-biology grade purity for downstream cloning and sequencing. Micron-scale DNA sample archival and access will be accomplished by a two-stage method for protecting and barcoding individual samples. New processes and protocols will be developed for the precise and reliable encapsulation of DNA in 10 micrometer condensed particles that additionally allow for barcode identification. Methods will be specifically developed such that the retrieval of the sample out of the particle will be nondestructive and of high quality for downstream applications. Random access will be achieved by enrichment of those particles displaying the barcode of interest. This research will lead to a revolutionary micron-scale DNA management architecture for archival, offering massive improvement in capacity, decreased operating costs and increased sample integrity. Specific technical innovations include DNA encapsulation methods for long-term DNA archival and molecular barcoding of microparticles for retrieval.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.