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Bacterial nanopores open future of data storage
Bioengineers at EPFL have developed a nanopore-based system that can read data encoded into synthetic macromolecules with higher accuracy and resolution than similar methods on the market. The system is also potentially cheaper and longer-lasting, and overcomes limitations that prevent us from moving away from conventional data storage devices that are rapidly maxing out in capacity and endurance.
Image: Engineered bacterial pores (aerolysin pore-forming toxin from A. hydrophila in yellow) can decode digital information stored in tailored-made polymers (shown here in atomic representation: n-propyl-phosphate blocks capped by di-deoxyadenosine terminals. Credit: Matteo Dal Peraro (aerolysin structure)/iStock (background).
New Technique to Use Bacterial Nanopores to Decode Digital Information
Image Credit: Billion Photos/Shutterstock
In 2020, every individual in the world is generating around 1.7 MB of data each second and that data amounts to 418 zettabytes, or 418 billion one-terabyte hard drives, in just a single year.
Data is currently stored as 0s and 1s in optical or magnetic systems that do not last for 100 years. In the meantime, data centers use large amounts of energy and create colossal carbon footprints. In other words, the way people store their ever-growing amount of data is not sustainable.
DNA as Data Storage
However, there is an alternative method preserving data in biological molecules, like DNA. In nature, DNA typically encodes, preserves, and creates large, readable amounts of genetic data in minute spaces (viruses, bacteria, and cells) and it does so with a high level of reproducibility and safety.