2 May 2025

Microfluidic platform encodes 2,304 bits into DNA in four hours on benchtop

Biotechnology and synthetic biologyExperimental cross-disciplinary systems
AI illustration · Illustrative scene, not a photograph of the specific device or experiment.

What was demonstrated

In a proof-of-concept study, binary data was written into DNA by overlap-extension PCR and programmable microfluidic partitioning. The authors report 2,304 bits encoded within 4 hours on a benchtop instrument, using an integrated microfluidic circuit with a 48 x 48 array. Sequencing confirmed the encoding, and the body text reports 100% accuracy at a threshold of 50 reads. A microfluidic qPCR platform decoded the data, with a write-to-read latency of about 8 hours, which the authors compare with about 5 days for conventional methods. The qPCR read of the 2,304-bit image had an error rate of about 0.9%, all of them 1-to-0 errors.

Why it matters

The authors describe writing information into DNA as a critical bottleneck, and note that conventional de novo synthesis takes 4 to 7 days. This work shows a chip-based, parallel route to writing bits. It is a small demonstration, and the paper reports no cost figures, so it does not show a practical write rate or cost advantage over existing synthesis methods.

Caveats

  • The 2,304 bits (about 288 bytes) written in this study are very small, and the authors describe the work as a proof of concept.
  • The authors state that the platform currently writes one bit per microfluidic partition. A 16-symbol scheme for hex-style codes is proposed but not demonstrated.
  • Some negative bits adjacent to positive bits showed low-level contamination (under 1%). Loading was non-uniform across the array, and the authors suggest this as a possible contributor to the higher qPCR error rate compared with sequencing.
  • The estimate of about 0.5 Mb per chip run is for a projected 700 x 700 array and is not a demonstrated result.

Technology profiles

Sources

  1. peer reviewed paper
    in situ Transformation of Information Into DNA Storage With Microfluidic Very Large-Scale Integration Platform
    Dong Dong Liu, Shaun Wei Yang Ngang, Lih Feng Cheow. Small (Wiley), 2 May 2025. DOI: 10.1002/smll.202412225.
  2. peer reviewed paper
    in situ Transformation of Information Into DNA Storage With Microfluidic Very Large-Scale Integration Platform
    Dong Dong Liu, Shaun Wei Yang Ngang, Lih Feng Cheow. PubMed Central (NCBI), copy of Small article, 2 May 2025. DOI: 10.1002/smll.202412225.

Last reviewed 21 Oct 2026.