Joint Research Team Led by SNU Professor Sunghoon Kwon and Professor Wook Park of Kyung Hee University Develops the Most Price-Competitive DNA Data Storage Technology in the World


▲ SNU-Kyung Hee U Joint Research Team: (From Left to Right) Professor Sunghoon Kwon of SNU Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Professor Wook Park of Kyung Hee U Department of Electrical and Radiowave Engineering, and Doctor Yeongjae Choi of SNU’s Biophotonics and Nano Engineering Lab

 
Korean researchers developed a new technology that significantly reduces the high cost of DNA-based data storage.
 
SNU College of Engineering (Dean Koookheon Char) announced on 30^th that the SNU-Kyung Hee University joint research team led by Professor Sunghoon Kwon of SNU Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Professor Wook Park of Kyung Hee U’s Department of Electrical and Radiowave Engineering, and Doctor Yeongjae Choi of SNU’s Biophotonics and Nano Engineering Lab developed a DNA-based data storage technology with the highest price-competitiveness in the world.
 
As the demand for information in the Fourth Industrial Revolution increases explosively, a next generation data storage technology that can save all this information is being requested. Many IT conglomerates like Microsoft and Intel are already looking into DNA-based data storage as a solution to the limit of data storage capacity.
 
The DNA-based data storage converts the digital binary code of 0 and 1 to chemically synthesized DNA strands of A, C, G, and T. It boasts a high degree of integration and preservation as it can store the entire data produced by humans in a year in just 4 grams of powder. Another strength is that this data storage does not consume any power.
 
The team explained their background of research stating, “With DNA-based data storage, data center of the size of a soccer field can be compressed to the size of a small box. However, it requires approximately 3500 USD (equivalent to 4,060,000 Korean Won) to simply save 1MB of information. This high cost limits the application of DNA-based data storage to industries on-field.”
 
Hence, the joint research team responded to the limitation by developing technology that reduces the cost to more than 50%. The key of this technology is the addition of 11 different degenerate bases to the four bases of A, C, G, and T during conversion of digital information to DNA.
 
As a result, as the length of converted DNA reduces in half, the cost also reduces in half. The team’s development is the most price competitive DNA-based data storage method among all DNA-based data storage technologies developed so far.
 
Professor Kwon stated, “By securing this source technology, Korea has occupied a preferential position in the competition for the development of DNA-based data storage. Follow-up researches and applications of the degenerate bases can further decrease the cost of DNA-based data storage.”
 
The research findings were published on the prestigious Scientific Report. The research was conducted with the support of the Samsung Research Funding & Incubation Center for Future Technology.
 
[Reference]

▲ Diagram of DNA Data Storage Synthesis Including Degenerate Bases