News & features
Ideas: The journey to DNA data storage
| Karin Strauss, Bichlien Nguyen, Jake Smith, and Sergey Yekhanin
Research manager Karin Strauss and members of the DNA Data Storage Project reflect on the path to developing a synthetic DNA–based system for archival data storage, including the recent open-source release of its most powerful algorithm for DNA error correction.
Research Focus: Week of May 22, 2023
In this edition: New research explores the causal ability of LLMs and DNA storage in thermoresponsive capsules; a talk on human-centered AI; and a CFP for funding for LLM productivity research projects from the Microsoft New Future of Work Initiative.
Toward nanoscale DNA writers: Unlocking scalable DNA data writing technology
| Karin Strauss and Bichlien Nguyen
Editor’s note: The researchers would like to acknowledge co-authors Christopher Takahashi, Gagan Gupta, Jake Smith, Richard Rouse, Paul Berndt, Sergey Yekhanin, David Ward, Siena Ang, Patrick Garvan, Hsing-Yeh Parker, Rob Carlson, Douglas Carmean, and Luis Ceze for their contributions to…
In the news | GeekWire
Microsoft helps found an industry alliance to advance DNA data storage systems
Microsoft is teaming up with other companies to form an alliance to advance the field of DNA data storage, which promises to revolutionize the way vital records are kept for the long haul. The founding members of the DNA Data…
Awards | Allen School News
Karin Strauss honored with ACM SIGARCH Maurice Wilkes Award
Karin Strauss, a principal research manager at Microsoft and affiliate professor at the Paul G. Allen School of Computer Science and Engineering, and Allen School professor Luis Ceze, have earned the 2020 Maurice Wilkes Award from the Association for Computing Machinery’s Special…
In the news | The Telegraph
From glass to DNA: technologies that could store our data for billions of years
When Elon Musk sent his Tesla Roadster into space aboard SpaceX’s Falcon Heavy rocket last year, the spacesuit-clad mannequin placed in the driver’s seat had a few essentials packed. A copy of Douglas Adams’ The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy…
In the news | PCMag
Microsoft Is Using DNA to Solve Our Impending Data Storage Crisis
The data stored in a warehouse-sized datacenter today would fit into ‘a space roughly the size of a few board game dice.’
In the news | GeekWire
Microsoft and University of Washington demonstrate automated DNA data storage
DNA data storage holds the promise of putting huge amounts of information into a test tube — but who wants to carry test tubes around a data center all day? Researchers from Microsoft and the University of Washington are working…
In the news | Microsoft Innovation Stories
With a “hello,” Microsoft and UW demonstrate first fully automated DNA data storage
Researchers from Microsoft and the University of Washington have demonstrated the first fully automated system to store and retrieve data in manufactured DNA — a key step in moving the technology out of the research lab and into commercial data…