TEDxVienna
Dina Zielinski: How we can store digital data in DNA
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From floppy disks to thumb drives, every method of storing data eventually becomes obsolete. What if we could find a way to store all the world's data forever? Bioinformatician Dina Zielinski shares the science behind a solution that's been around for a few billion years: DNA.
Dina Zielinski - Bench scientist, bioinformatician
Dina Zielinski brings biological data to life, from decoding mutations in cancer to encoding data in DNA. Full bio
Dina Zielinski brings biological data to life, from decoding mutations in cancer to encoding data in DNA. Full bio
Double-click the English transcript below to play the video.
00:12
I could fit all movies ever made
inside of this tube.
inside of this tube.
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If you can't see it,
that's kind of the point.
that's kind of the point.
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(Laughter)
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Before we understand how this is possible,
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it's important to understand
the value of this feat.
the value of this feat.
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All of our thoughts
and actions these days,
and actions these days,
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through photos and videos --
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even our fitness activities --
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are stored as digital data.
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Aside from running out of space
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on our phones,
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we rarely think about
our digital footprint.
our digital footprint.
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But humanity has collectively
generated more data
generated more data
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in the last few years
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than all of preceding human history.
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Big data has become a big problem.
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Digital storage is really expensive,
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and none of these devices that we have
really stand the test of time.
really stand the test of time.
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There's this nonprofit website
called the Internet Archive.
called the Internet Archive.
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In addition to free books and movies,
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you can access web pages
as far back as 1996.
as far back as 1996.
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Now, this is very tempting,
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but I decided to go back and look at
the TED website's very humble beginnings.
the TED website's very humble beginnings.
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As you can see, it's changed
quite a bit in the last 30 years.
quite a bit in the last 30 years.
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So this led me to the first-ever TED,
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back in 1984,
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and it just so happened
to be a Sony executive
to be a Sony executive
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explaining how a compact disk works.
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(Laughter)
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Now, it's really incredible
to be able to go back in time
to be able to go back in time
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and access this moment.
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It's also really fascinating
that after 30 years, after that first TED,
that after 30 years, after that first TED,
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we're still talking about digital storage.
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Now, if we look back another 30 years,
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IBM released the first-ever hard drive
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back in 1956.
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Here it is being loaded for shipping
in front of a small audience.
in front of a small audience.
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It held the equivalent of one MP3 song
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and weighed over one ton.
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At 10,000 dollars a megabyte,
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I don't think anyone in this room
would be interested in buying this thing,
would be interested in buying this thing,
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except maybe as a collector's item.
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But it's the best we could do at the time.
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We've come such a long way
in data storage.
in data storage.
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Devices have evolved dramatically.
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But all media eventually wear out
or become obsolete.
or become obsolete.
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If someone handed you a floppy drive today
to back up your presentation,
to back up your presentation,
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you'd probably look at them
kind of strange, maybe laugh,
kind of strange, maybe laugh,
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but you'd have no way
to use the damn thing.
to use the damn thing.
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These devices can no longer meet
our storage needs,
our storage needs,
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although some of them can be repurposed.
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All technology eventually dies or is lost,
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along with our data,
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all of our memories.
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There's this illusion that
the storage problem has been solved,
the storage problem has been solved,
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but really, we all just externalize it.
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We don't worry about storing
our emails and our photos.
our emails and our photos.
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They're just in the cloud.
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But behind the scenes,
storage is problematic.
storage is problematic.
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After all, the cloud is just
a lot of hard drives.
a lot of hard drives.
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Now, most digital data,
we could argue, is not really critical.
we could argue, is not really critical.
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Surely, we could just delete it.
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But how can we really know
what's important today?
what's important today?
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We've learned so much about human history
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from drawings and writings in caves,
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from stone tablets.
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We've deciphered languages
from the Rosetta Stone.
from the Rosetta Stone.
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You know, we'll never really have
the whole story, though.
the whole story, though.
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Our data is our story,
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even more so today.
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We won't have our record
recorded on stone tablets.
recorded on stone tablets.
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But we don't have to choose
what is important now.
what is important now.
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There's a way to store it all.
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It turns out that there's
a solution that's been around
a solution that's been around
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for a few billion years,
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and it's actually in this tube.
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DNA is nature's oldest storage device.
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After all, it contains
all the information necessary
all the information necessary
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to build and maintain a human being.
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But what makes DNA so great?
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Well, let's take our own genome
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as an example.
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If we were to print out
all three billion A's, T's, C's and G's
all three billion A's, T's, C's and G's
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on a standard font, standard format,
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and then we were
to stack all of those papers,
to stack all of those papers,
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it would be about 130 meters high,
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somewhere between the Statue of Liberty
and the Washington Monument.
and the Washington Monument.
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Now, if we converted
all those A's, T's, C's and G's
all those A's, T's, C's and G's
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to digital data, to zeroes and ones,
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it would total a few gigs.
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And that's in each cell of our body.
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We have more than 30 trillion cells.
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You get the idea:
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DNA can store a ton of information
in a minuscule space.
in a minuscule space.
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DNA is also very durable,
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and it doesn't even require
electricity to store it.
electricity to store it.
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We know this because scientists
have recovered DNA from ancient humans
have recovered DNA from ancient humans
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that lived hundreds
of thousands of years ago.
of thousands of years ago.
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One of those is Ötzi the Iceman.
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Turns out, he's Austrian.
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(Laughter)
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He was found high, well-preserved,
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in the mountains
between Italy and Austria,
between Italy and Austria,
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and it turns out that he has living
genetic relatives here in Austria today.
genetic relatives here in Austria today.
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So one of you could be a cousin of Ötzi.
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(Laughter)
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The point is that we have a better chance
of recovering information
of recovering information
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from an ancient human
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than we do from an old phone.
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It's also much less likely
that we'll lose the ability to read DNA
that we'll lose the ability to read DNA
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than any single man-made device.
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Every single new storage format
requires a new way to read it.
requires a new way to read it.
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We'll always be able to read DNA.
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If we can no longer sequence,
we have bigger problems
we have bigger problems
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than worrying about data storage.
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Storing data on DNA is not new.
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Nature's been doing it
for several billion years.
for several billion years.
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In fact, every living thing
is a DNA storage device.
is a DNA storage device.
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But how do we store data on DNA?
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This is Photo 51.
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It's the first-ever photo of DNA,
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taken about 60 years ago.
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This is around the time that
that same hard drive was released by IBM.
that same hard drive was released by IBM.
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So really, our understanding of digital
storage and of DNA have coevolved.
storage and of DNA have coevolved.
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We first learned to sequence, or read DNA,
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and very soon after, how to write it,
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or synthesize it.
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This is much like how we learn
a new language.
a new language.
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And now we have the ability
to read, write and copy DNA.
to read, write and copy DNA.
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We do it in the lab all the time.
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So anything, really anything,
that can be stored as zeroes and ones
that can be stored as zeroes and ones
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can be stored in DNA.
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To store something digitally,
like this photo,
like this photo,
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we convert it to bits, or binary digits.
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Each pixel in a black-and-white photo
is simply a zero or a one.
is simply a zero or a one.
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And we can write DNA much like an inkjet
printer can print letters on a page.
printer can print letters on a page.
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We just have to convert our data,
all of those zeroes and ones,
all of those zeroes and ones,
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to A's, T's, C's and G's,
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and then we send this
to a synthesis company.
to a synthesis company.
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So we write it, we can store it,
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and when we want to recover our data,
we just sequence it.
we just sequence it.
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Now, the fun part of all of this
is deciding what files to include.
is deciding what files to include.
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We're serious scientists,
so we had to include a manuscript
so we had to include a manuscript
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for good posterity.
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We also included a $50 Amazon gift card --
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don't get too excited, it's already
been spent, someone decoded it --
been spent, someone decoded it --
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as well as an operating system,
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one of the first movies ever made
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and a Pioneer plaque.
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Some of you might have seen this.
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It has a depiction of a typical --
apparently -- male and female,
apparently -- male and female,
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and our approximate location
in the Solar System,
in the Solar System,
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in case the Pioneer spacecraft
ever encounters extraterrestrials.
ever encounters extraterrestrials.
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So once we decided what sort of files
we want to encode,
we want to encode,
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we package up the data,
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convert those zeroes and ones
to A's, T's, C's and G's,
to A's, T's, C's and G's,
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and then we just send this file off
to a synthesis company.
to a synthesis company.
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And this is what we got back.
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Our files were in this tube.
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All we had to do was sequence it.
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This all sounds pretty straightforward,
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but the difference between
a really cool, fun idea
a really cool, fun idea
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and something we can actually use
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is overcoming these practical challenges.
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Now, while DNA is more robust
than any man-made device,
than any man-made device,
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it's not perfect.
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It does have some weaknesses.
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We recover our message
by sequencing the DNA,
by sequencing the DNA,
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and every time data is retrieved,
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we lose the DNA.
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That's just part
of the sequencing process.
of the sequencing process.
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We don't want to run out of data,
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but luckily, there's a way to copy the DNA
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that's even cheaper and easier
than synthesizing it.
than synthesizing it.
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We actually tested a way to make
200 trillion copies of our files,
200 trillion copies of our files,
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and we recovered
all the data without error.
all the data without error.
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So sequencing also introduces
errors into our DNA,
errors into our DNA,
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into the A's, T's, C's and G's.
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Nature has a way
to deal with this in our cells.
to deal with this in our cells.
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But our data is stored
in synthetic DNA in a tube,
in synthetic DNA in a tube,
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so we had to find our own way
to overcome this problem.
to overcome this problem.
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We decided to use an algorithm
that was used to stream videos.
that was used to stream videos.
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When you're streaming a video,
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you're essentially trying to recover
the original video, the original file.
the original video, the original file.
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When we're trying to recover
our original files,
our original files,
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we're simply sequencing.
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But really, both of these processes are
about recovering enough zeroes and ones
about recovering enough zeroes and ones
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to put our data back together.
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And so, because of our coding strategy,
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we were able to package up all of our data
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in a way that allowed us to make
millions and trillions of copies
millions and trillions of copies
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and still always recover
all of our files back.
all of our files back.
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This is the movie we encoded.
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It's one of the first movies ever made,
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and now the first to be copied
more than 200 trillion times on DNA.
more than 200 trillion times on DNA.
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Soon after our work was published,
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we participated in an "Ask Me Anything"
on the website reddit.
on the website reddit.
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If you're a fellow nerd,
you're very familiar with this website.
you're very familiar with this website.
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Most questions were thoughtful.
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Some were comical.
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For example, one user wanted to know
when we would have a literal thumb drive.
when we would have a literal thumb drive.
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Now, the thing is,
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our DNA already stores everything
needed to make us who we are.
needed to make us who we are.
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It's a lot safer to store data on DNA
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in synthetic DNA in a tube.
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Writing and reading data from DNA
is obviously a lot more time-consuming
is obviously a lot more time-consuming
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than just saving all your files
on a hard drive --
on a hard drive --
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for now.
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So initially, we should focus
on long-term storage.
on long-term storage.
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Most data are ephemeral.
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It's really hard to grasp
what's important today,
what's important today,
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or what will be important
for future generations.
for future generations.
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But the point is,
we don't have to decide today.
we don't have to decide today.
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There's this great program by UNESCO
called the "Memory of the World" program.
called the "Memory of the World" program.
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It's been created to preserve
historical materials
historical materials
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that are considered of value
to all of humanity.
to all of humanity.
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Items are nominated
to be added to the collection,
to be added to the collection,
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including that film that we encoded.
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While a wonderful way
to preserve human heritage,
to preserve human heritage,
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it doesn't have to be a choice.
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Instead of asking
the current generation -- us --
the current generation -- us --
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what might be important in the future,
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we could store everything in DNA.
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Storage is not just about how many bytes
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but how well we can actually
store the data and recover it.
store the data and recover it.
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There's always been this tension
between how much data we can generate
between how much data we can generate
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and how much we can recover
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and how much we can store.
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Every advance in writing data
has required a new way to read it.
has required a new way to read it.
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We can no longer read old media.
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How many of you even have
a disk drive in your laptop,
a disk drive in your laptop,
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never mind a floppy drive?
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This will never be the case with DNA.
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As long as we're around, DNA is around,
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and we'll find a way to sequence it.
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Archiving the world around us
is part of human nature.
is part of human nature.
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This is the progress we've made
in digital storage in 60 years,
in digital storage in 60 years,
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at a time when we were only
beginning to understand DNA.
beginning to understand DNA.
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Yet, we've made similar progress
in half that time with DNA sequencers,
in half that time with DNA sequencers,
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and as long as we're around,
DNA will never be obsolete.
DNA will never be obsolete.
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Thank you.
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(Applause)
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ABOUT THE SPEAKER
Dina Zielinski - Bench scientist, bioinformaticianDina Zielinski brings biological data to life, from decoding mutations in cancer to encoding data in DNA.
Why you should listen
Dina Zielinski is a bench scientist and bioinformatician with broad experience in genetics and genomics. Her current projects are in developmental biology and neurology, but she is motivated to keep learning and using her skills to answer scientific questions that challenge our deepest knowledge.
Dina Zielinski | Speaker | TED.com