Abstract: Exponential increases in digital data production are rapidly outpacing improvements in cost and density of conventional magnetic storage media. Large industry and government entities now routinely need to archive digital data at the Exabyte scale, at five-year storage and maintenance costs approaching $100M. Encoding data in synthetic DNA offers the potential for deployable storage technologies that can eventually scale into the Exabyte regime and beyond, with substantially reduced physical footprint, power, and cost requirements relative to magnetic tape or hard drives. Existing implementations of DNA data storage are limited to small file sizes and boutique applications such as time capsules. The SMASH program is an IARPA-funded effort aimed at demonstrating commercially relevant data storage volumes and costs, in order to open large archival applications and attract further investment from private industry. GTRI is leading a team of partners from the biotech industry (Twist Bioscience, Roswell Biotechnologies) to develop scalable technologies for DNA data read/write operations. At Georgia Tech, the SMASH team is producing nanofabricated “DNA microchips” for massively parallel synthesis of DNA, combining new techniques from synthetic biology with the proven manufacturability and scalability of CMOS control electronics.
Bio: Dr. Nicholas Guise is a Senior Research Scientist and Associate Chief of the Quantum Systems Division at GTRI. Dr. Guise obtained his Ph.D. in Physics from Harvard University and completed an NRC postdoctoral fellowship in the atomic spectroscopy group at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST). At GTRI, Dr. Guise has led research programs in secure quantum communications, scalable quantum computing with microfabricated ion traps, and molecular information storage. He currently serves as PD/PI for the SMASH (Scalable Molecular Archival Software and Hardware) program, an interdisciplinary IARPA-funded effort towards large-scale storage of digital data in synthetic DNA, leading a team that spans academia and the biotech industry.
]]>Nigel Reuel, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor
Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering
Iowa State University
One pressing problem for manufacturing cell and protein based therapies are suitable sensors for process monitoring and control. Desired features are the ability to make measurements real-time, in-line, and without breaking the sterile environment. The Reuel Group at Iowa State University researches methods of contact free measurement systems in closed environments (bioreactors, soil systems, bandages, etc.). This is done with transducers that broadcast in frequency bands suitable for water and plastic penetration. In this talk I will detail our work on 1) optical nanotransducers that fluoresce in the near infrared (900-1000nm) and 2) mesoscale resonators that resonate in the short wave radio frequency band (1-100MHz). In both cases the transducer is rendered selective to a desired analyte by coating it with a selective agent that either promotes binding or undergoes a conformational change upon interaction. When the target cell or protein interacts with the sensor surface, there is a frequency modulation that can be monitored from a distance. The final results of hydrolytic enzyme activity characterization and ion concentration measurement as well as preliminary results for protein and cell binding assays using these two sensors will be presented to demonstrate their potential. Their utility for media composition, cell viability, and cell potency monitoring will be discussed.
This presentation can be seen via videoconference using BlueJeans:
https://bluejeans.com/435290867