[6] If the message DNA is intended to be stored for a long period of time, for example, 1,000 years, it is also helpful if the sequence is obviously artificial and the reading frame is easy to identify.
[10] This approach can also be parallelized to store and write text or data in 8-bit form through the use of physically separated individual cell cultures in cell-culture plates.
This approach leverages the editing of a "recorder plasmid" by the light-regulated recombinases, allowing for identification of cell populations exposed to different stimuli.
[11] In 1964–65, Mikhail Samoilovich Neiman, the Soviet physicist, published 3 articles about microminiaturization in electronics at the molecular-atomic level, which independently presented general considerations and some calculations regarding the possibility of recording, storage, and retrieval of information on synthesized DNA and RNA molecules.
The image, stored in a DNA sequence in E.coli, was organized in a 5 x 7 matrix that, once decoded, formed a picture of an ancient Germanic rune representing life and the female Earth.
[17] In 2012, George Church and colleagues at Harvard University published an article in which DNA was encoded with digital information that included an HTML draft of a 53,400 word book written by the lead researcher, eleven JPEG images and one JavaScript program.
[20] In 2013, an article led by researchers from the European Bioinformatics Institute (EBI) and submitted at around the same time as the paper of Church and colleagues detailed the storage, retrieval, and reproduction of over five million bits of data.
However, it was noted that the exponential decrease in DNA synthesis and sequencing costs, if it continues into the future, should make the technology cost-effective for long-term data storage by 2023.
It implements a memory efficiency version of the algorithm proposed by Goldman et al. to encode (and decode) data to DNA (.dnac files).
The team added redundancy via Reed–Solomon error correction coding and by encapsulating the DNA within silica glass spheres via Sol-gel chemistry.
[31] Research published by Eurecom and Imperial College in January 2019, demonstrated the ability to store structured data in synthetic DNA.
[32][33] In April 2019, due to a collaboration with TurboBeads Labs in Switzerland, Mezzanine by Massive Attack was encoded into synthetic DNA, making it the first album to be stored in this way.
In the paper, scientists demonstrate a new method of recording information in DNA backbone which enables bit-wise random access and in-memory computing.
The researchers also explored the limitations and future improvements for dynamic DNA data structures, highlighting the potential for DNA-based computational systems.
[38] Almost three years later on January 19, 2018, the EBI announced that a Belgian PhD student, Sander Wuyts, of the University of Antwerp and Vrije Universiteit Brussel, was the first one to complete the challenge.
[41] The Lunar Library, launched on the Beresheet Lander by the Arch Mission Foundation, carries information encoded in DNA, which includes 20 famous books and 10,000 images.
[43] The concept of the DNA of Things (DoT) was introduced in 2019 by a team of researchers from Israel and Switzerland, including Yaniv Erlich and Robert Grass.
In addition, the ability of DoT to serve for steganographic purposes was shown by producing non-distinguishable lenses which contain a YouTube video integrated into the material.