BioWorks 18: Storing Your Photos in DNA with James Banal

In which Dr. James Banal, co-founder of Cache DNA, shares how his startup is building efficient storage solutions for nucleic acids. Dr. Banal shares how the bit density and longevity of DNA compare to those of hard drives, how strategic encoding schemes can recover lost data, and how transport vesicles inspired Cache’s barcoding system for search and access. We also discuss the first commercial use cases for Cache’s technology and what the future may hold for DNA computing using Cache’s technology (e.g. more efficient matrix multiplications for machine learning). Dr. Banal also shares his philosophy on biologically-inspired innovation. Hosted by Emma Chen.

Timestamps:

(00:00) - Intro

(01:05) - Density and longevity

(04:52) - Converting to and writing DNA

(08:54) - Cost of DNA synthesis

(13:10) - Strategic encoding schemes

(17:19) - DNA storage conditions

(21:29) - Accessing data

(27:03) - Inspiration from histones and vesicles

(28:20) - James' philosophy on biomimicry

(31:19) - Molecular computers

(36:13) - Cache's business strategy

(43:40) - Cache's origin story

(46:06) - Postdoc-to-founder transition

(47:46) - Advice for biotech