Macro-molecular data storage with petabyte/cm^3 density, highly parallel read/write operations, and genuine 3D storage capability

TL;DR

This paper demonstrates preliminary DNA readout experiments in miniaturized chambers, showing that single-stranded DNA translocation through ion-channels produces identifiable signals, advancing the potential for high-density, fast, and reliable molecular data storage.

Contribution

It introduces a scalable miniaturized chamber setup for DNA readout and analyzes translocation signals, moving toward practical high-density molecular data storage.

Findings

Single-stranded DNA translocation yields characteristic signals.

Translocation rate depends on experimental parameters.

Miniaturized chambers are scalable for future development.

Abstract

Digital information can be encoded in the building-block sequence of macro-molecules, such as RNA and single-stranded DNA. Methods of "writing" and "reading" macromolecular strands are currently available, but they are slow and expensive. In an ideal molecular data storage system, routine operations such as write, read, erase, store, and transfer must be done reliably and at high speed within an integrated chip. As a first step toward demonstrating the feasibility of this concept, we report preliminary results of DNA readout experiments conducted in miniaturized chambers that are scalable to even smaller dimensions. We show that translocation of a single-stranded DNA molecule (consisting of 50 adenosine bases followed by 100 cytosine bases) through an ion-channel yields a characteristic signal that is attributable to the 2-segment structure of the molecule. We also examine the dependence of the rate and speed of molecular translocation on the adjustable parameters of the experiment.