The Ministry of Science and ICT and the National Research Foundation of Korea selected Professor Sung-Hoon Kwon of the SNU Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering on the 6^th as the awardee of the Science and Technology Researcher of the Month Award for the month of July.

The Science and Technology Researcher of the Month Award is given to a researcher that has contributed to the development of science and technology with excellent R&D achievements. The awardee receives the Minster of Science and ICT award and 10 million won.

Professor Sung-Hoon Kwon was highly evaluated for laying the foundation for the commercialization of DNA memory technology that can efficiently store and manage data.

Professor Sung-Hoon Kwon of the SNU Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering

DNA memory is a technology that converts digital information consisting of 0s and 1s into quaternary data made up of DNA base sequences, and stores them into DNA.

1g of DNA has enough storage capacity to store 1 billion high-definition movies. DNA is also superior to existing binary storage devices in terms of lifespan and power consumption, leading to DNA storage attracting attention as a future storage medium. However, errors occurring during the synthesis of biochemical molecules are causes for a decrease in data storage reduction and loss of information, thereby acting as an obstacle to commercialization. 

The research team focused on the fact that most DNA synthesis errors are caused by insertions and deletions that lengthen or shorten the molecule, and developed a new ultra-high purity DNA purification technology that can pick out DNA fragments synthesized with the correct length.

By simultaneously measuring the length of multiple DNA strands at high throughputs, and separating strands of different lengths to account for measurement errors, the team managed to increase the physical integration level of DNA memory and reduce the data loss rate.

The purification technology that Professor Kwon’s team developed can be used not only for DNA memory technology, but also for solving DNA synthesis error problems in the fields of DNA/RNA vaccines, therapeutics, and genetic scissors.

Professor Kwon said, “We developed an ultra-high purity DNA purification technology that can simultaneously purify hundreds of billions of DNA, and obtained a DNA library, an essential material for DNA memory technology, with high synthesis efficiency. We plan to develop stable DNA memory technology by increasing the physical integration level of DNA libraries and minimizing the data loss rate.”

Source: https://ece.snu.ac.kr/community/news?bm=v&bbsidx=52779

Translated by: Do-Hyung Kim, English Editor of the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, kimdohyung@snu.ac.kr