Making DNA Data Storage a Reality
Our aim is to research DNA as a medium for digital data storage. Our ultimate goal to make it a staple of modern data centres to store archival data in the very long term.
Introduction to DNA Data Storage & our Research
DNA Data Storage
DNA Data Storage, the process of storing arbitrary binary data in DNA sequences is actively researched by us and the community. Its properties, primarily durability and compact form factor, make it an ideal storage media for archiving data for decades. Watch the video here to see what makes DNA an ideal storage media and how it all works.
Processing Data in DNA
Once data is stored in DNA, biomolecular processes can be used to process it on an unprecedented scale. More precisely, combinatorial problems (e.g., databases joins, travelling salesperson problems and others) can be solved in DNA very fast thanks to the unprecedented level of parallelism and also very energy efficient comapred to traditional computing. Watch the video here to learn more.
Modelling DNA Storage as a Constrained Channel
Key to storing binary data in synthetic in DNA is the translation between the binary representation of digital data to the quaternary domain of DNA. This translation must adhere to constraints imposed by the synthesis and sequencing processes used to write and read respectively. A technological advance in either process changes the constraints and renders current encoding schemes obsolete. In this line of work we present a recipe for taking constraints and producing an appropriate encoding scheme. Such a mechanism allows moving the encoding in lockstep with the technological advances in the underlying processes. We further show a method to understand trade-offs in constraints for a given overhead of bits needed to meet such constraints
Publications
Selected publications resulting from our research
2022
Generating Synthetic Data for DNA Origami-based Information Storage Systems Conference
2022.
2021
DNA archival storage, a bottom up approach Conference
ACM Workshop on Hot Topics in storage and File Systems, 2021.
DNA4DNA: Preserving Culturally Significant Digital Data with Synthetic DNA Journal Article
In: 17th International Conference on Digital Preservation (iPRES 2021), 2021.
Digital Preservation with Synthetic DNA Journal Article
In: 37eme Conference sur la Gestion de Donnees – Principes, Technologies et Applications (BDA 2021), 2021.
Nanopore Sequencing Simulator or DNA Data Storage Journal Article
In: Visual Communications and Image Processing (VCIP 2021), 2021.
2019
OligoArchive: Using DNA in the DBMS Storage Hierarchy. Inproceedings
In: Conference on Innovative Data Systems Research (CIDR '19) , 2019.
Survey of information encoding techniques for dna Journal Article
In: arXiv preprint arXiv:1906.11062, 2019.
Meet the Team
Thomas Heinis
Lab Director
Omer S. Sella
Researcher
William Hunter
Doctorate Research
Zijian (James) Zhou
Doctorate Research
Samira Brunmayr
MEng Student
Jamie J. Alnasir
Research Associate
(Alumni)
Samantha Kwok
M.Sc. Student
(Alumni)
Jasmine Quah
M.Sc. Student
(Alumni)
Chandler Low
M.Sc. Student
(Alumni)Join us! We have the following student, PhD and PostDoc opportunities available…
Partners & Collaborators
