A Digital DNA Nano Writer (DNA NanoFab)

今天，基因测序的价格正在下降，1000美元的基因组确实是有可能的，但直接写入DNA呢？DNA测序的进步归功于电子“读取”技术的新发展，但目前还没有直接的“写入”。DNA或多肽合成等间接方法正在改进，但这些方法都是“大宗”方法，无法实现对单个分子链的亚单位控制。在这个聪明的想法中，我们将建立一个混合的、数字的CMOS驱动的合成化学平台，利用CMOS的速度和并行性直接写入DNA，目标是在单链DNA上实现GHz写入速率，并使用PCR进行放大。这不仅可以直接写入DNA，还可以写入蛋白质和聚合物链。这一想法具有变革性，因为最终结果将是一个允许对物质进行数字控制的系统，该系统结合了数字合成和化学读写步骤。因此，这种方法将实现分子组装器的梦想，允许访问合成DNA的长度比当前技术状态长一个数量级，并且成本低廉，速度与序列数据一样快。在DNA以外的发展中，聚合物科学的应用将允许数字定义的聚合物链一个亚基地组装，从而使纳米孔组装器可以用于世界上第一个真正的数字物质制造器或纳米组装器。

Today gene sequencing is dropping in price with the $1000 dollar genome a real possibility but what about the direct writing of DNA? Progress in DNA sequencing is down to novel developments in electronic 'read' technology but currently there is no direct 'write'. Indirect methods such as DNA or peptide synthesis are improving but these are 'bulk' methods and sub-unit control on individual molecular strands is not achieved. In this bright idea we will build a hybrid, digital CMOS driven synthetic chemical platform to write DNA directly taking advantage of the speed and parallelism of CMOS aiming for GHz write rates on a single strand of DNA and scale up using PCR. Not only will this allow the 'direct' writing of DNA but also of proteins and polymer chains. This idea is transformative since the end result will be a system that allows the digital control of matter combining digital synthesis and chemical read-write steps. As such, this approach will realise the dream of a molecular assembler allowing access to synthetic DNA an order of magnitude longer in length than the current state of the art, as inexpensively and as quickly as sequence data. In developments beyond DNA, application to polymer science will allow the assembly of digitally defined polymer strands subunit by subunit allowing a nanopore assembler to be used for the world's first true digital matter fabricator or nano-assembler.