NEO - Next Generation Molecular Data Storage

当前的长期档案介质（如磁带和磁盘）有几个问题，最重要的是它们的寿命很短（最多5-10年），迫使数据每隔几年就在存储介质之间复制一次，这一过程成本高昂，也产生了相当大的电子浪费。人们迫切需要更持久的介质，DNA寡核苷酸已被确定为下一个档案存储介质的主要竞争者。有了它，数据写入使用DNA合成，读取使用DNA测序。DNA作为一种存储介质特别有前途，因为它可以持续数百年。然而，由于DNA合成成本过高（写入1位约0.12美元）以及写入（合成）和读取（测序）速度等问题，目前将数据存储在DNA寡核苷酸中过于昂贵。因此，我们建议研究在DNA纳米结构中存储数据。我们的方法是基于制造DNA纳米结构，就像面包板一样，并在给定的一组位置上附着链霉亲和素，如果链霉亲和素存在，就写1，否则就写0。我们的方法的主要好处是，所有可能的纳米结构都可以建立在一个预定义的，小的DNA寡核苷酸集合，可以廉价和批量生产。因此，写作要便宜得多。通过我们的方法，写作、阅读（基于原子力显微镜）和编辑也大大加快了速度。编辑信息目前是不可行的DNA存储基于寡核苷酸。我们已经在概念验证实验中成功地演示了写作和阅读的可行性，从而对该方法充满信心。这个提议的目标是扩大这个基本的但已经成功测试过的想法，使其在更大的范围内成为可行的方法。提出这项工作的团队是使这项研究取得成功的理想人选。团队汇集了所有必要的专业知识。

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.