Harvard researchers have been able to use sequencing technology to store 70 billion copies of a yet-unpublished book in DNA binary code.

The results of the project by researchers at Harvard University's Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering at Harvard University were published last week in the peer-reviewed journal Science.

"The total world's information, which is 1.8 zettabytes, [could be stored] in about four grams of DNA," said Sriram Kosuri, a senior scientist at the Wyss Institute and senior author of the paper, in a video presentation.

The researchers created the binary code through DNA markers to preserve the text of the book, Regenesis: How Synthetic Biology Will Reinvent Nature and Ourselves in DNA. The book was written by research team member George Church.

"We ... wanted something that represents modern digital, so we used an HTML version of a book," Church said in a video presentation.

"The HTML form -- let's say the web form -- includes digital images [and a] Java script programming language that performs something interactively with a person. So we encoded that into zeros and ones into DNA," Church added.

A DNA double helix in an undated artist's illustration released by the National Human Genome Research Institute. (Source: Reuters)Church, a professor of genetics at the Harvard Medical School, helped develop the first direct genomic sequencing method in 1984. He was also a member of the team that initiated the Human Genome Project that year as a scientist working at Biogen Inc.

The Harvard researchers stored 5.5 petabits, or 1 million gigabits, per cubic millimeter in the DNA storage medium. Because of the slow process for setting down the data, the researchers consider the DNA storage medium currently suitable only for data archive purposes.

"The information density and scale compare favorably with other experimental storage methods from biology and physics," Kosuri said.

The team also included Yuan Gao, a former Wyss postdoctoral scholar and now an associate professor of biomedical engineering at Johns Hopkins University.

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Harvard Stores 70 Billion Books Using DNA