DVD uses bug protein to store data

News in Science ^ | 7 July 2006 | Anna Salleh

[annie laurie]

DVDs coated with a layer of protein could one day hold so much information that storing data on your computer hard drive will be obsolete, says a US-based researcher.

He says that the protein layer, made from tiny genetically altered microbe proteins, could allow DVDs and other external devices to store terabytes of information.

Professor V Renugopalakrishnan of the Harvard Medical School in Boston reported his findings at the International Conference on Nanoscience and Nanotechnology in Brisbane this week.

"What this will do eventually is eliminate the need for hard drive memory completely," he says.

Renugopalakrishnan says high-capacity storage devices like the new protein-based DVDs will be essential to the defence, medical and entertainment industries.

These trade in terabytes of information with the transfer of information such as satellite images, imaging scans and movies.

"You have a compelling need that is not going to be met with the existing magnetic storage technology," he says.

Renugopalakrishnan says the new protein-based DVD will have advantages over current optical storage devices (such as the Blue-ray).

It will be able to store at least 20 times more than the Blue-ray and eventually even up to 50,000 gigabytes (about 50 terabytes) of information, he says.

The star at the centre of the high-capacity DVD is a light-activated protein found in the membrane of a salt marsh microbe Halobacterium salinarum.

The protein, called bacteriorhodopsin (bR), captures and stores sunlight to convert it to chemical energy.

When light shines on bR, it is converted to a series of intermediate molecules each with a unique shape and colour before returning to its 'ground state'.

The intermediates generally only last for hours or days.

But Renugopalakrishnan and colleagues modified the DNA that produces bR protein to produce an intermediate that lasts for more than several years, which paves the way for a binary system to store data.

"The ground state could be the zero and any of the intermediates could be the one," he says.

The scientists also engineered the bR protein to make its intermediates more stable at the high temperatures generated by storing terabytes of data.

The flip side

Renugopalakrishnan says making large amounts of information so portable on high-capacity removable storage devices will make it easier for information to fall into the wrong hands.

"Unfortunately science can be used and abused. Information can be stolen very quickly," he says. "One has to have some safeguards there."

In conjunction with NEC in Japan, Renugopalakrishnan's team has produced a prototype device and estimate a USB disk will be commercialised in 12 months and a DVD in 18 to 24 months.

The work has been funded by a range of US military, government, academic institutions and commercial companies, as well as the European Union.

[conservatism_IS_compassion]

"COULD" allow DVDs and other external devices to store terabytes of information. Professor V Renugopalakrishnan of the Harvard Medical School in Boston reported his findings at the International Conference on Nanoscience and Nanotechnology in Brisbane this week. "What this "WILL" do eventually is eliminate the need for hard drive memory completely," he says. "

Your point has merit.

But the "COULD" claim applies to projected storage capacity well into the terabyte range - a mass storage function, done by tapes in the bad old days and now by multiple DVDs.
And the "WILL" claim applies to the different, tho similar, function of the hard drive.

It can be read, "The difficult (making something which supplants the hard drive" we do immediately (a matter of months). The impossible (supplanting the DVD with the same technology that supplants the hard drive) takes a little longer (a matter of a couple of years)."

A claim of "commercialization in 12 months" is basically a claim that "It's easy to make these things right now; it's only a matter of ramping up production to commercial scale."

[strategofr]

"A claim of "commercialization in 12 months" is basically a claim that "It's easy to make these things right now; it's only a matter of ramping up production to commercial scale.""

I don't notice any such claim in the article so the statement confuses me.

""The ground state could be the zero and any of the intermediates could be the one," he says."

Here is a good clue to what is going on. They have yet to choose what symbolizes the "1" in the binary system. I think we can safely conclude that the research is in an early stage.

Over the years, I have seen dozens of stories similar to this. I can tell you, most of them come to nothing. The thing is, the amount of BS in the air is definitely increasing, in my opinion. I don't know enough about the scientific establishment to say what people gain from this sort of thing---but I'm sure there's a reason.

[dfwgator]

"What this will do eventually is eliminate the need for hard drive memory completely," he says.

I heard all that same crap when they said 64K of memory was more than you ever needed. Trust me, whatever memory capabilities they come up with, they will find a way to use it all.

[AntiGuv]

I was tired and obviously not thinking clearly when I posted last night! :)

[InterceptPoint]

The star at the centre of the high-capacity DVD is a light-activated protein found in the membrane of a salt marsh microbe Halobacterium salinarum.

I thought everybody knew that.

I remember when I was kid building up a small disk drive based on the salt marsh microbe Halobacterium salinarum light activated protein. It was a piece of cake. I happened to live near a salt marsh where good old Halo-sal used to hang out in large quantities so that made it pretty easy to get high quality material.

Nevertheless, it will be nice when we can run down to Fry's and buy a stack of these for $20. Perfect for storing those 1080p videos of the grandkids.

[jmcenanly]

We've come a long way in a short time. I remember when it was the thing to do to get bugs out of the computer.