Microsoft is approaching the conversion of data centers into nuclear acid

Microsoft has made a significant step forward in its plan to replace digital DNA data centers.

A team of the company and researchers from the University of Washington have managed to "automate" the process of converting digital information into nuclear acid and reversing this process. They now have the first fully automatic DNA storage device.

Microsoft hopes that this model, designed to prove that this concept can be realized, will contribute to the development of DNA storage technology.

In its first operation, the prototype – costing $ 10,000 – converted the word "halo" into "DNA"; the machine first worked to encode bits (zeros and zeros) into DNA sequences (that is, G).

Then, the DNA was synthesized and stored in liquid form, after which the DNA was read by the DNA sequence. Finally, the decoder program translated the sequences into bits (digital format).

But the dilemma here is that the process of converting the word "halo", which is five bits, took 21 hours to convert it into DNA, and then put it back into bits again. But researchers have already found a way to reduce this time to 12 hours and have also suggested ways to cut costs by several thousand dollars.

In the nucleotide form (the nucleotide is a structural component, or the basic building blocks of DNA and ribosome DNA), the word "halo" only required four micrograms to convert it into a sequence d & # 39; DNA.

As the Tech Review indicates, at this rate, all the information stored in a warehouse-size data center can be contained in a few standard sized dice.

Once this technique is mastered, it can store data much longer than we currently can. As Microsoft points out, some nucleic acids have survived for tens of thousands of years in mammoth tusks and in the bones of early humans.

For these reasons, Microsoft and other technology companies are turning to DNA to solve the data storage problems looming on the horizon. Earlier reports indicated that Microsoft 's official goal was to have the DNA – based storage system in one of its data centers by the end of the decade.

DNA storage technology is not entirely new, but the novelty here is that the system is fully automated. But before succeeding commercially, the cost of synthesizing DNA and extracting the information that it contains must be drastically reduced.