NEO - Next Generation Molecular Data Storage

当前的长期存档介质(如磁带和磁盘)有几个问题，其中最重要的一个问题是它们寿命短(长达5-10年)，迫使数据每隔几年在存储介质之间复制一次，这一过程成本高昂，也会产生相当大的电子浪费。人们迫切需要更持久的介质，DNA寡聚已被确定为下一代档案存储介质的主要竞争者。有了它，数据通过DNA合成写入，并使用DNA测序读取。DNA作为一种存储介质特别有希望，因为它的耐用性可以持续数百年。然而，由于DNA合成成本过高(写入一位约0.12美元)，以及写入(合成)和读取(测序)速度等问题，目前在DNA寡核苷酸中存储数据过于昂贵。为此，我们建议研究在DNA纳米结构中存储数据。我们的方法是基于生产DNA纳米结构，如面包板，并在给定的一组位置连接链霉亲和素，如果链霉亲和素存在，则写一，否则写零。我们方法的主要好处是，所有可能的纳米结构都可以从一组预先定义的、可以廉价和大规模生产的DNA寡聚分子中构建出来。因此，写作成本要低得多。使用我们的方法，写作、阅读(基于原子力显微镜)和编辑也大大加快了速度。目前，基于寡核苷酸的DNA存储无法编辑信息。我们已经成功地证明了在概念验证实验中写作和阅读的可行性，给了我们对这种方法的信心。这项提议的目标是扩大这一基本但经过成功检验的想法，使其成为更大范围内的可行方法。提出这项工作的团队处于使研究成功的理想位置。该团队将所有必要的专业知识聚集在一起。

Current long-term archival media (such as tape and disk) have several issues, the most important one being that they are short lived (up to 5-10 years) forcing data to be copied between storage media every few years in a costly process which also produces considerable electronic waste. Longer-lasting media are desperately needed and DNA oligos have been identified as a major contender to be the next archival storage medium. With it, data is written using DNA synthesis and read using DNA sequencing. DNA is particularly promising as a storage medium, due to its durability as it can last for several hundreds of years. However, storing data in DNA oligos is currently too expensive due to the exorbitant cost of DNA synthesis (~0.12USD to write one bit) as well as issues such as speed in writing (synthesis) and reading (sequencing). For this reason, we propose to investigate storing data in DNA nanostructures. Our approach is based on producing DNA nanostructures, like a breadboard, and attaching streptavidin at a given set of locations, to either write a one if streptavidin is present or a zero otherwise. The major benefit of our approach is that all possible nanostructures can be built out of a predefined, small set of DNA oligos which can be produced cheaply and en-masse. Writing is therefore substantially cheaper. With our approach, writing, reading (based on atomic force microscopy), and editing are also substantially faster. Editing information is currently infeasible with DNA storage based on oligos. We have successfully demonstrated the feasibility of both writing and reading in proof of-concept experiments, giving confidence in the approach. The goal of this proposal is to scale up the basic but successfully tested idea to make this a feasible approach at a larger scale. The team proposing this work is ideally placed to make the research a success. The team brings all the necessary expertise together.