In a groundbreaking advancement, researchers from Tianjin University's Frontiers Science Center for Synthetic Biology, in collaboration with Tianjin Huanhu Hospital, have developed a novel DNA Palette coding scheme. This innovative method successfully encodes brain magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) data into DNA, enabling lossless decoding and 3D reconstruction of the imaging data.
Published in the National Science Review, the study addresses the significant challenge of long-term storage for the vast amounts of data generated by brain MRI scans. This breakthrough is particularly vital for managing diseases such as juvenile Parkinson's, epilepsy, and neurogenetic disorders, where lifelong data accumulation and analysis are essential.
DNA is renowned for its exceptional stability and high storage density, making it a promising medium for data storage. The Tianjin research team managed to encode 11.28 megabytes of brain MRI data into approximately 250,000 DNA sequences, achieving an impressive data density of 2.39 bits per base. The encoded oligos, single strands of synthetic DNA, are stored in dry powder form, weighing just 3 micrograms and supporting over 300 read operations under current technical standards.
This achievement highlights DNA's potential as a long-term, efficient, and secure storage medium for medical data. The study represents a crucial step toward the practical application of DNA data storage, offering a new technical pathway for the secure storage of large medical datasets and accelerating the broader adoption of DNA-based storage technologies.
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Researchers make breakthrough in DNA-based storage of brain MRI data
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