Content about DNA

Researchers in Switzerland have taken inspiration from fossils to discover how DNA could be used to reliably store data for over two million years. They stored 83 kilobytes of data — containing the text from the Swiss Federal Charter of 1291 and the English translation of the Method of Archimedes — on DNA, which was subsequently encapsulated in silica to mimic the protective shell provided by fossilized bone. 

Manuel Peitsch, co-founder of the Swiss Institute of Bioinformatics, will chair a session on high-performance computing in the life sciences at ISC’14 in Leipzig, Germany, in June. He tells iSGTW about the exciting advancements being made in this field.

Peitsch argues that bioinformatics — enabled by advances in high-performance computing — has a major role to play in tackling the grand challenges of the 21st century, such as environmental protection, energy supply, public health, and sustainable food production.

Ewan Birney, associate director of the European Bioinformatics Institute, says that biology has now transformed to become a 'big-data science'. Ahead of his keynote talk at this month’s EUDAT 2nd conference, he explains that the field faces both what he terms 'blue-' and 'white-collar problems' in handling this data deluge.

Plus, could DNA really be the future of data storage? Birney believes it could be. "DNA is remarkable," he says. "Just one gram of DNA can store about a petabyte’s worth of data… it's estimated that you could put the whole internet into the size of a van!"

Meet ENCODE, the ultimate guide to the human genome. But the project isn't just changing the way we look at our DNA, it's also revolutionizing the way in which scientist publish their research findings.