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Digital information storage in DNA

We are member of the LOEWE Research Cluster MOSLA. This cluster employs transdisciplinary approaches to address a fundamental problem of humankind: the long-term storage of information. The cluster drives further developments of molecular memories as alternative data storage media with the aim to prevent a ‘Digital Dark Age’ (the loss of all digital information). DNA is one of the molecular information carriers in the center of research in MOSLA. We aim at increasing the storage density of DNA through better algorithms for data encoding and at enhancing stability of the DNA memory in vitro and in vivo to improve information retrieval.

Selected publications:

Schwarz M, Welzel M, Kabdullayeva T, Becker A, Freisleben B, Heider D (2020) MESA: automated assessment of synthetic DNA fragments and simulation of DNA synthesis, storage, sequencing and PCR errors. Bioinformatics 36: 3322–3326