Abstract
DNA promises to be a high density data storage medium, but physical storage poses a challenge. To store large amounts of data, pools must be physically isolated so they can share the same addressing scheme. We propose the storage of dehydrated DNA spots on glass as an approach for scalable DNA data storage. The dried spots can then be retrieved by a water droplet using a digital microfluidic device. Here we show that this storage schema works with varying spot organization, spotted masses of DNA, and droplet retrieval dwell times. In all cases, the majority of the DNA was retrieved and successfully sequenced. We demonstrate that the spots can be densely arranged on a microfluidic device without significant contamination of the retrieval. We also demonstrate that 1 TB of data could be stored in a single spot of DNA and successfully retrieved using this method.
Highlights
DNA promises to be a high density data storage medium, but physical storage poses a challenge
While the theoretical information density of DNA is incredibly high, DNA data storage systems are practically constrained by the desire for random access, which allows the retrieval of specific data without sequencing the entire pool
Random access is critical to the practicality of DNA storage systems, but the need for addressing each data item limits the capacity of a single pool to terabytes of information[7]
Summary
DNA promises to be a high density data storage medium, but physical storage poses a challenge. We demonstrate that 1 TB of data could be stored in a single spot of DNA and successfully retrieved using this method. While the theoretical information density of DNA is incredibly high, DNA data storage systems are practically constrained by the desire for random access, which allows the retrieval of specific data without sequencing the entire pool. Random access is critical to the practicality of DNA storage systems, but the need for addressing each data item limits the capacity of a single pool to terabytes of information[7]. The spots are physically isolated and individually retrievable using digital microfluidics (DMF) without contamination. Our solution is powered by a digital microfluidic device, a versatile class of fluidic automation systems that move individual droplets around on an array of electrodes via the electrowettingon-dieletric phenomenon. Modulating an electric field between individual electrodes in the grid changes the interfacial surface tension of droplets, deforming them and
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