Microfluidic information-encoding polymer data storage

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10839948-B2
Application number	US-201615394484-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Dec 29, 2016
Priority date	Dec 29, 2016
Publication date	Nov 17, 2020
Grant date	Nov 17, 2020

Abstract

Embodiments herein relate to data storage and retrieval using information-encoding polymers encapsulated in droplets stored in a microfluidic droplet storage array. In various embodiments, a data storage apparatus may include a microfluidic droplet storage array to store one or more droplets containing one or more information-encoding polymer molecules in one or more droplet storage locations, and an interface coupled with the microfluidic droplet storage array to receive the one or more droplets from a data writer that writes the one or more droplets into the microfluidic droplet storage array. Other embodiments may be described and/or claimed.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A data storage apparatus comprising:
a microfluidic droplet storage array having a plurality of droplet storage locations;
a first interface coupled with the microfluidic droplet storage array, and having a data writer, to receive input data, synthesize one or more information-encoding polymer molecules based at least in part on the input data, attach the one or more information-encoding polymer molecules to one or more particles or beads, and encapsulate the one or more particles or beads into one or more droplets to be stored into the microfluidic droplet storage array;
a controller coupled with the first interface and the microfluidic droplet storage array to generate a first controlled force to cause the one or more droplets to move from the first interface to one or more of the plurality of droplet storage locations to store the one or more droplets in the microfluidic droplet storage array; and
a second interface coupled with the microfluidic droplet storage array and the controller, and having a data reader, to retrieve the one or more droplets from the microfluidic droplet storage array, wherein the controller is further arranged to generate a second controlled force to cause the one or more droplets to move from the one or more of the plurality of droplet storage locations of the microfluidic droplet storage array to the second interface.

2. The data storage apparatus of claim 1 , wherein at least two information-encoding polymer molecules of the one or more droplets are copies of each other to provide redundancy for a reduced error rate.

3. The data storage apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the information-encoding polymer molecules of the one or more droplets include deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA).

4. The data storage apparatus of claim 3 , wherein the DNA is included as bare DNA strands.

5. The data storage apparatus of claim 1 , wherein to generate the first and second controlled forces, the controller generates first and second electrowetting control signals.

6. The data storage apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the microfluidic droplet storage array has a planar architecture with fluidic droplet transport channels and storage locations in a same plane.

7. The data storage apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the microfluidic droplet storage array has a layered architecture with fluidic droplet transport channels in a first plane and droplet storage locations in a second plane underneath the first plane.

8. The data storage apparatus of claim 7 , wherein the second plane includes one or more wells and one or more addressable electrodes.

9. A method of storing data comprising:
receiving input data, at a data writer of a microfluidic droplet storage device;
synthesizing, by the data writer, one or more information-encoding polymer molecules based at least in part on the input data;
attaching, by the data writer, the one or more information-encoding polymer molecules to one or more particles or beads;
encapsulating, by the data writer, the one or more particles or beads into one or more droplets;
generating, by a controller of the microfluidic droplet storage device, coupled with the data writer, a first controlled force to move the one or more droplets from the data writer to one or more droplet storage locations of the microfluidic droplet storage device to store the one or more droplets in the microfluidic droplet storage device; and
generating, subsequently, by the controller, a second controlled force to move the one or more droplets from the one or more droplet storage locations to a data reader of the microfluidic droplet storage device, coupled with the controller.

10. The method of claim 9 , wherein synthesizing, by the data writer, one or more information-encoding polymer molecules comprises sequencing, by the data writer, the one or more information-encoding polymer molecules.

11. The method of claim 10 , wherein generating, by the controller, the second controlled force comprises generating, by the controller, an electrowetting control signal, and wherein sequencing, by the data writer, comprises using a nanopore sequencer.

12. At least one non-transitory computer-readable medium comprising instructions stored thereon that, in response to execution of the instructions by one or more processors of a microfluidic droplet storage device, cause the device to:
receive input data, at a data writer of the microfluidic droplet storage device;
synthesize, with the data writer, one or more information-encoding polymer molecules based at least in part on the input data;
attach, with the data writer, the one or more information-encoding polymer molecules to one or more particles or beads;
encapsulate, with the data writer, the one or more particles or beads into one or more droplets;
generate, with a controller of the microfluidic droplet storage device, a first controlled force to move the one or more droplets from the data writer to one or more droplet storage locations in the microfluidic droplet storage device; and
generate, with the controller, a second controlled force to move the one or more droplets from the one or more droplet storage locations to a data reader of the microfluidic droplet storage device.

13. The at least one non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 12 , wherein to generate the second controller force comprises to cause an addressable electrode of the microfluidic droplet storage device to eject the one or more droplets from the one or more droplet storage locations.

14. The at least one non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 12 , wherein to generate the first or second controlled force includes to generate an electrowetting control signal.

15. The at least one non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 12 , wherein the one or more information-encoding polymer molecules include a first copy of a first information-encoding polymer molecule and a second copy of the first information-encoding polymer molecule, and wherein to generate, with the controller, a second controlled force to move the one or more droplets to a data reader of the microfluidic droplet storage device includes to:
generate, with the controller, the second controlled force to move the first copy of the information-encoding polymer molecule to the data reader; and move the second copy of the information-encoding polymer molecule to an amplification module of the microfluidic droplet storage device.

Assignees

• Intel Corp

Inventors

• Bramlett Brian W
• Basu Amar S

Classifications

• G06N3/123 Primary

  DNA computing · CPC title

• B01L3/502792

  for moving individual droplets on a plate, e.g. by locally altering surface tension · CPC title

• G16H10/60 Primary

  for patient-specific data, e.g. for electronic patient records · CPC title