Dr. Karin Strauss of Microsoft Research discusses cutting edge research in synthesizing DNA for use as data storage.

1. DNA Storage
Karin Strauss
and the DNA Storage Team

2. Next generation of big data
7/29/2016 2
Video + sensorsGenomics data
© Microsoft Research. All rights reserved.

3. The digital universe is growing
7/29/2016 3
0
5,000,000
10,000,000
15,000,000
20,000,000
25,000,000
30,000,000
35,000,000
40,000,000
45,000,000
50,000,000
Petabytes
Digital Universe
Installed Capacity
Capacity Shipped
Source: IDC
© Microsoft Research. All rights reserved.

4. Dense, really dense
Vs.
Cold Storage: 1EB, Size: Two Walmart Supercenters
7/29/2016 4
It’s here!
3-4 orders of magnitude
denser than tape
© Microsoft Research. All rights reserved.

5. Durable
7/29/2016 5
(Illustration: Philipp Stössel/ETH Zurich)
DNA synthetic fossils survive:
Source: Grass et al. Robust Chemical Preservation of Digital
Information on DNA in Silica with Error-Correcting Codes
And readers never become obsolete
Time Temperature
1 week 70˚C
2,000 years 10˚C
2,000,000 years -18˚C
© Microsoft Research. All rights reserved.

6. A DNA storage primer
7/29/2016 6
G
0101000101011100
A C T A CG
GA C Tbases:
A C T
address
data
© Microsoft Research. All rights reserved.
Encoding Synthesis
G
A
C
T
A
G
C
A
C
T
Sequencing Decoding
Random
Access
(write) (read)
Preservation

7. Copying DNA
7/29/2016 7
C GTGCGAG GA C T
address
G C C TG A C T G A C T
primer target primer target
C T G A
C GTGCGAG GA C TG C C TG A C T G A C T
C GTGCGAG GA C TG C C TG A C T G A C T
C GTGCGAG GA C TG C C TG A C T G A C T
C GTGCGAG GA C TG C C TG A C T G A C T
primer
© Microsoft Research. All rights reserved.

8. Random Access with DNA
7/29/2016 8
0101000101011100
C GTGCGAG GA C T
address
G A C TA A G A A A C G
primer target primer target
C GTGCGAG GA C T
address
G C C TG A C T G A C T
primer target primer target
C T G A
C GTGCGAG GA C TG C C TG A C T G A C T
C GTGCGAG GA C TG C C TG A C T G A C T
C GTGCGAG GA C TG C C TG A C T G A C T
C GTGCGAG GA C TG C C TG A C T G A C T
© Microsoft Research. All rights reserved.
selecting one
item out of two

9. DNA storage works
7/29/2016 9© Microsoft Research. All rights reserved.
Encoding Synthesis
G
A
C
T
A
G
C
A
C
T
Sequencing Decoding
Random
Access
(write) (read)
200MB 200MB
latency: ~day latency: ~hours
Archival Storage

10. Improvements by biotechnology industry
7/29/2016 10
Source: Robert Carlson
1.00E+02
1.00E+03
1.00E+04
1.00E+05
1.00E+06
1.00E+07
1.00E+08
1.00E+09
1.00E+10
1.00E+11
1.00E+12
1965 1970 1975 1980 1985 1990 1995 2000 2005 2010 2015 2020
Year
Transistors per chip Reading DNA (bases/person/day) Writing DNA (bases/person/day)
Carlson’s Curves
Moore’s Law
DNA Reads
DNA Writes
© Microsoft Research. All rights reserved.

11. DNA: ultimate storage
© Microsoft Research. All rights reserved.7/29/2016 11
Dense
Durable
Never obsolete
How would you use it?

12. Questions?
7/29/2016 12© Microsoft Research. All rights reserved.