Webinar Recap: Biological Solutions to Society’s Data Storage Problems

DNA data storage innovations

Last Wednesday, we heard from three inspirational leaders about how nature’s data storage solution, DNA, could solve the growing data storage problem in our increasingly tech-enabled society. The speakers included:

Murali Prahalad, CEO of Iridia, Inc., a startup developing DNA data storage solutions based on unique insights and proprietary technologies. Murali is a Ph.D. in biochemistry and is a stalwart of the San Diego biotech seen for the last two decades.

Tad Weems, Managing Director of Early Stage Partnerships at Agilent Technologies where he leads the CVC team. Agilent is one of the leading life science companies and is deeply involved in DNA sequencing and next-gen applications.

Philip Nelson is the current Director of AI for Social Good at Google and has lots of experience in the space, having built several data centers in his career. He also has experience with DNA, helping to get Complete Genomics, Inc. off the ground.

Here are some of the top takeaways from the conversation:

• Modern society produces data measured in zettabytes (that is 10 to the 21st power) every day and that is increasing every single day at an increasing rate as more and more devices go “smart.” There is no doubt that current storage technologies and infrastructure are insufficient. But there is a large question on exactly when and what new technologies will fill this need.
• Data is the new oil. The world relies on data to make decisions and progress. The advancement of technologies is creating more and more data every day. Have you ever thought about where all this data is stored? What the costs are? What the enabling technologies are to do this? We at Prime Movers Lab have been looking hard at this space and are very excited to dive deeper.
• Not all data storage is the same, and a major difference is how many times it is read, the latency requirements, accessibility, etc. For biological solutions, we are mostly looking at the cold storage segment, which BTW is a $107 billion market with a 13% CAGR. You can see why cold storage is too hot! DNA is nature’s solution to data storage. It is where all the genetic data is stored in As, Ts, Cs, and Gs. It is organic, works at biological temperatures, and can be stable for centuries under the right conditions.

It was a spirited, enlightened, and amazingly informative discussion that you can view in its entirety here.

Prime Movers Lab invests in breakthrough scientific startups founded by Prime Movers, the inventors who transform billions of lives. We invest in companies reinventing energy, transportation, infrastructure, manufacturing, human augmentation, and agriculture.

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