Scientists to fossilise DNA data to last thousands of years

Researchers in Switzerland have developed a method for writing vast amounts of information in DNA and storing it inside a synthetic fossil, potentially for thousands of years. Scientists from ETH Zurich have taken inspiration from the natural world in a bid to devise a storage medium that could last for potentially thousands of years. 

They say that genetic material found in fossils hundreds of thousands of years old can be isolated and analysed as it has been protected from environmental stresses. “It kind of tells us that it’s a really stable material which can endure nature or the environment for a very long time,” said Dr. Robert Grass, a senior scientist at ETH Zurich. 

In order to protect information-bearing DNA they encapsulated it in a synthetic ‘fossil’ shell made from a microscopic silica glass particle with diameter of roughly 150 nanometers. “We looked at ways of stabilizing DNA, and we developed a method of encapsulating DNA into small glass particles. And we’ve shown that in these particles traces are more stable, these DNA traces are more stable than they are otherwise in the environment,” added Grass. 

“If you, for example, think of a tablespoon filled with DNA, that would include all of the information on Facebook and Wikipedia and Twitter - and all that just in that small heap of DNA,” said Grass. The researchers say that encapsulation in silica is roughly comparable to that of fossilized bones. 

The long-term stability of the DNA can be estimated by comparisons to other DNA storage facilities, such as Norway’s Svalbard Global Seed Vault, where genetic material is stored at minus 18 degrees Celsius and can survive for more than a million years. 

While the hardware to decode the DNA has become cheaper, the cost of actually manufacturing DNA with the information encoded inside is still very expensive. Grass said it will take investment from governments and large corporations to make it possible.