Researchers at North Carolina State University and Johns Hopkins University have developed DNA-based technology capable of storing, retrieving, calculating, erasing and rewriting data.
This new breakthrough marks the first time all of these tasks have been combined into a DNA storage system, with the potential to transform the way data is stored in the future.
The project, led by Albert Keung, a professor at North Carolina State University, represents a major advance for DNA-based computing. While DNA has long been considered a potential solution for long-term data storage, until now it has not been able to handle multiple operations like modern electronic systems. However, the team's new system has changed that.
Real-time data manipulation
The breakthrough was made possible by the creation of dendricoloids, a polymeric structure that allows DNA to be stored densely without sacrificing capacity. “You could store the data of a thousand laptops in a DNA structure the size of an eraser,” Keung said. This storage solution could be vital as global data demands continue to rise, particularly in areas such as artificial intelligence, cloud computing and large-scale data management.
In addition to storing data, the system allows for real-time manipulation of data, including copying, erasing and rewriting DNA sequences. Kevin Lin, lead author of the paper, explained: “We can perform many of the same tasks as with electronic devices, such as erasing and rewriting data on the same surface.”
The system has also demonstrated computational capabilities, solving simple problems such as Sudoku and chess puzzles. The research team believes this development could pave the way for molecular computing, which could store petabytes of data in very small spaces.
Although the technology is still in its early stages, researchers hope it will lead to practical applications in the future. The study was published in Nanotechnology from nature and supported by the National Science Foundation.
