CATALOG is a company investigating whether digital data can be stored in DNA molecules. Seagate is currently collaborating with CATALOG to explore whether DNA can store large amounts of information . Something that would mean a revolution for the memory and storage media sector, which could see its capacities increased thanks to these biotechnology elements.
Index of contents
- What is biotechnology?
- How is biotechnology used today?
- Why is biotechnology important?
- Types of biotechnology
- biotechnology in computing
- Precedents: blood and memristors
- Catalog and Seagate: DNA to store large amounts of data
What is biotechnology?
Biotechnology is the use of living organisms and biomolecules to create goods and services, or to solve problems. It is a subset of the field of biology and is closely related to engineering and genetics. Biotechnology has many applications in sectors such as agriculture, food production, health and ecology. In agriculture, biotechnology is used to genetically modify plants and animals to improve their quality and quantity, and to create more nutritious and pest-resistant foods. In medicine, biotechnology is used to create vaccines and drugs, to diagnose and treat diseases, and to create tissues and organs for transplants. Biotechnology is also used in the production of goods such as biofuels and biopolymers. These are products made from biological materials such as plants or bacteria.
How is biotechnology used today?
Biotechnology is used to manufacture a wide variety of productssuch as food, fuel, clothing, and medicine. It is also used in research laboratories to study the functioning of living things at the molecular level. In agriculture, biotechnology is used to genetically modify plants and animals to improve their quality and quantity, and to create more nutritious and pest-resistant foods. In medicine, biotechnology is used to create vaccines and drugs, to diagnose and treat diseases, and to create tissues and organs for transplants. Biotechnology is also used in the production of goods such as biofuels and biopolymers. These are products made from biological materials such as plants or bacteria.
Why is biotechnology important?
Biotechnology is essential to modern society. In fact, much of what we eat, wear and use on a daily basis is the result of biotechnology. The first genetically modified plant was created about 30 years ago, and the first GM food became available for human consumption in 1994. Biotechnology has been used to improve the quality of our daily lives. It is also used to solve big problems like world hunger, climate change, and antibiotic-resistant diseases. Biotechnology uses living organisms to create useful goods and services. It is an area of science that focuses on combining natural processes with artificial techniques to create useful innovations. Biotechnology has allowed us to improve the quality of our lives by addressing issues such as world hunger and climate change, at the same time that it has improved the way of producing food, creating medicines and even creating tissues. Biotechnology is an important field of study because it can help us solve big problems that affect the whole society.
Types of biotechnology
Some types or branches of biotechnology are:
- Applied Biotechnology: The application of biotechnology to solve real-world problems.
- Biotechnology for biofuels: The practice of using microorganisms, plants, or other organisms to create biofuels.
- Biotechnology for chemistry: The application of biotechnology in the field of chemistry.
- Biotechnology for ecology:The application of biotechnology in the field of ecology.
- Biotechnology for medicine:The application of biotechnology in the field of medicine.
- Biotechnology for materials: The application of biotechnology in the field of materials science.
- Biotechnology for nutrition:The application of biotechnology in the field of nutrition.
- Biotechnology for regulatory sciences: The application of biotechnology in the field of regulatory sciences.
- Biotechnology for space sciences: The application of biotechnology in the field of space sciences.
- Biotechnology for synthetic biology: The application of biotechnology in synthetic biology.
- Biotechnology for sustainability: The application of biotechnology to achieve sustainability.
biotechnology in computing
Biotechnology applies the same theories and methods used in other sciences to the study of computer systems . It is the study of living organisms and their interrelation with the environment to obtain useful products. It also includes the study of computer systems as living organisms and their interrelationships with the environment. Biotechnology is the study of computer systems as living organisms. Computer science is the study of computer systems. The two fields are very similar and can be studied together at many universities.
Precedents: blood and memristors
A team of researchers has found that human blood shares many characteristics with memristors , a recently discovered new technology in circuit design. April Fools’ Day pranks are usually made up, but this one is real. In the study by SP Kosta et al., published in the International Journal of Medical Engineering and Informatics, researchers found that the electrical resistance of human blood changes as a function of applied voltage. They also found that blood retains a memory of electrical resistance for up to five minutes. According to the authors, it is therefore a memristor, the fourth type of fundamental circuit element after resistor, capacitor, and inductor. In 1971, Stanley Williams and his colleagues first described the memristor. Finally, HP provided a doped titanium dioxide memristor device in 2008.
Unlike other components, memristors are able to maintain their memory when the flow of electricity has stopped.. Since they can be turned off without losing data, they are ideal for storing information. Memristors have already been linked to biological material elsewhere. Due to their memorization properties, they have been considered as a potential method to emulate neural systems. In this study, Kosta and his colleagues seem to have neuroprosthetics in mind as a potential therapy. According to the team, the study suggests that human diseases could be treated using simple electron circuitry technology based on tissues in the human body. A press release from the team describes that the next step will be to create small memristor devices that limit blood flow. To perform “logical operations,” they will combine them to create small memristor devices.
Catalog and Seagate: DNA to store large amounts of data
Seagate and CATALOG collaborate on DNA data storage research , and Seagate is one of the world’s leading storage companies . Despite the slow transfer rate, CATALOG was able to store the entire English Wikipedia on DNA strands with a storage capacity of less than 16 GB three years ago. DNA data storage systems still have some limitations, such as their high demand for space and energy and their high cost. Seagate is the key to reducing the size up to 1,000 times, which is what the concept of this technology allows.
‘The collaboration will focus on the use of Seagate’s ‘lab on a chip’ technology to reduce the volume of chemicals required for DNA-based storage and computing. Thanks to Seagate’s platform, tiny droplets of synthetic DNA can test chemistry at significantly lower levels. These drops will be processed through dozens of repositories on the Seagate platform. The DNA from each deposit is mixed to produce chemical reactions for a number of computing functions, such as search and analysis, machine learning and process optimization.’
Catalog
To reduce the amount of chemicals needed for storage and processing, Seagate’s lab-on-a-chip technology could be used to mix tiny droplets of DNA in different reservoirs. To carry out certain computational functions, chemical reactions could be used to combine synthetic DNA and create DNA. The idea of storing large amounts of information in DNA has been studied for several years. In 2016, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology estimated that up to 200 exabytes of data could be stored in 1 gram of DNA.
