Advances and Perspectives in Nucleic Acid Memory

Dear Colleagues,

Current data storage materials and techniques are approaching their economic and physical limits. At the same time, the demand for memory is increasing exponentially. By the middle of this century, the world will experience catastrophic shortages of digital memory. Therefore, the memory industry has realized a critical need to explore alternative storage materials. DNA is a promising alternative to digital data storage materials when information density, durability, and operation energy become critical. The National Science Foundation states, "Currently, semiconductor-based information technologies are facing many challenges as Complementary Metal-Oxide- Semiconductor (CMOS)/Moore's Law approaches its physical limits, with no obvious replacement technologies in sight." Further, the NSF has indicated that "such a research effort can have a significant impact on the future of information storage and retrieval technologies," and "the integration of these two fields [Semiconductors and Synthetic Biology] is likely to lead to a new technological boom for information processing and storage." Additionally, Semiconductors Synthetic Biology (SemiSynBio) consortium representatives participated in the White House Bioeconomy Summit on October 7, 2019 to inform legislators of the importance of this emerging trend. The trend is evident from multi agencies' recent and continuous funding; the increasing number of publications; the establishment of the SemiSynBio Consortium and the produced roadmap; the establishment of the DNA Data Storage Alliance, which includes industry and academic institutions; and the increasing number of patents and inventions. The current Special Issue focuses on the topic of nucleic acids-based memory and aims to motivate more scientific activities on this emerging topic. 

Dr. Reza Zadegan
Guest Editor

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• DNA memory
• DNA digital data storage
• nucleic acid memory
• information storage
• DNA nanotechnology
• molecular information