Why store data in DNA? Who would actually use this technology? Is it worth it?

These are the questions we have been faced with since the establishment of our project. As you read through our Human Practices pages, the answer should become clear. In our quest to answer these questions and design a project with practical applications, we have consulted with professionals in fields ranging from synthetic biology to computer security; from ethics to data management. Thanks to their time and expertise, we have been able to critically analyse every aspect of our project and evolve it into a technology that can be used in our current society.

In addition to investigating the policy and practices of our project, we have been lucky enough to engage with, and share our project with, the members of our community. This included networking and talking with professionals in the synthetic biology community at the SynBioBeta Conference in July, and setting up an interactive exhibit at Doors Open Day to help engage the community surrounding our university. We were able to reach an even wider audience through our features in PLOS SynBio, The Times and The Scotsman.

A major success of our project is that we were able to ‘go beyond the bench’ this summer and actually implement our project by storing the most precious Scottish manuscript in DNA at the National Library of Scotland . Without the help of experts and the feedback from the community, this achievement would not have been possible. To read a full list of acknowledgements please click here.

To read more about our human practices please click here .