Twist Bioscience Synthetic DNA Stores Netflix Original Series ‘Biohakers’

Twist Bioscience Corporation announced an episode of a Netflix original series has been stored in the company’s synthetic DNA.

“Many important documents, music and videos have been encoded and stored in DNA, but this is the first time a leading entertainment provider has embraced the vast possibilities of DNA from imagination to storage,” said Emily M. Leproust, Ph.D., CEO and cofounder. “It’s exciting to ground the fictional series, which expounds beyond the boundaries of what is possible with DNA today, with the reality of preserving groundbreaking cultural media in synthetic DNA. The ability to store digital data in DNA seems futuristic, but the future is now.“

DNA is the oldest coding system known to science, and we are only now beginning to explore the possibilities available to advance science through synthetic biology. The show, BioHackers, investigates some current opportunities as well as future possibilities, engaging imagination and creativity.

Released exclusively on Netflix and starring Luna Wedler and Jessica Schwarz, BioHackers is a gripping science thriller. The 6-part series by showrunner and director Christian Ditter (‘How to be Single’, ‘Love, Rosie, ‘Girlboss’) deals with biological interventions, genetic modifications and the possibilities in the field of engineering biology. In connection with the launch the Original Series, scientists at ETH Zurich encoded the first episode of BioHackers from ones and zeros into a sequence of the four nucleic bases adenine (A), guanine (G), cytosine (C) and thymine (T) – the building blocks of DNA. This code is then built, base by base into strands of synthetic DNA by the company to store the series for thousands of years.

Leproust continued, “DNA is an incredible molecule that, by its very nature, provides ultra high density storage for thousands of years. In fact, the DNA contained within all cells in a human body could store all the movies created to date in the 21st century three billion times over. That, indeed, illustrates the magic of bringing biology and technology together to create synthetic (inert) DNA.“

Today, the company manufactures more than one million small pieces of DNA on a single silicon chip using semiconductor technology. The company is working toward the next gen of silicon chip that will allow the company to synthesize or write 10GB of DNA on each silicon chip, reducing the cost of digital storage for broad accessibility and commercialization.

How to store digital data in DNA
To store data in DNA, first, a data file is converted from its digital sequence of 0’s and 1’s into a DNA sequence of A’s, C’s, T’s and G’s; for example, 00 = A, 01 = C, 10 = G and 11 = T. The company then encodes the DNA data file into short segments of DNA (200 to 300 bases long) that can be synthesized (written) and stored. In addition to storing part of the data file, each short segment contains an index to indicate its place within the overall data file. To retrieve the data, the segments are sequenced (read) and then decoded back into the original file. One feature of the indexing system is it allows part of the file to be biologically recovered (random access) before sequencing, so only data of interest is sequenced. And, all data is recovered error-free because error-correcting algorithms are used during the encode/decode process.

Watch a visual illustration of how digital data is converted into DNA (video).

About BioHackers
Mia started her medical studies at the renowned University of Freiburg, Germany, but it soon became clear that her interest in biohacking technology had more than just scientific reasons: She wants to win the trust of lecturer Professor Tanja Lorenz, with whom she has a dark secret. In order to clear up her brother’s death, she enters a dangerous world full of illegal genetic experiments. When she meets the brilliant biology student Jasper and his mysterious roommate Niklas, she has to make a decision: Between her feelings and her principles, between revenge for her family and protecting her new friends.

In addition to the leading roles Luna Wedler and Jessica Schwarz, Caro Cult, Adrian Julius Tillmann, Thomas Prenn, Sebastian Doppelbauer and Jing Xiang as well as Benno Fürmann play in the new genre mix, which promises high tension, high speed and young adult entertainment.

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