CS alumnus leads DNA storage breakthrough

Mashable (July 7) -- Microsoft and the University of Washington announced the storage breakthrough, reporting that they had managed to store a 2010, high-definition OK Go music video as well as 100 books and Crop Trust's seed database on some DNA strands. Storing data on synthetic DNA is not new, but 200 MB is a huge leap from the most recent DNA storage record of just 22 MB. "It's a thousand times bigger than we had done last year. Just demonstrating that we can scale our methods... was really important," said lead researcher Luis Ceze, an Illinois alumnus (PhD, 2007, Computer Science) and an associate professor of computer science and engineering at the University of Washington. “As long as there is DNA-based life on the planet, we’ll be interested in reading it,” said alumna Karin Strauss (PhD, 2007, Computer Science), the principal Microsoft researcher on the project. “So it’s eternally relevant.”Also: Seattle Times (July 7), Microsoft (blog, July 7), The Verge (July 7), Phys.Org (July 8), U.S. News & World Report (July 7), Engadget (July 7), ASEE FirstBell (July 8).