As an interdisciplinary group of biotechnologists, programmers, and artists, we started a research question in which we imagine the different ways in which digital information will be stored, preserved, and shared in the future: Can digital information be stored in DNA?

And if so, why should we do it? Beyond its potential as a high-density tool for storing data, DNA could soon become an unbreakable storage element of our own cultural ties.

We will experiment based on the latest findings and basic principles of DNA data storage. First, we will encode digital files such as words, photographs or audio to a quaternary programming language and turn them into a nitrogenous bases language (A, T, G, C), which are the structural units for DNA synthesis. Once the message is encoded and translated into biological language, the DNA with the encrypted file is synthesized by chemical or enzymatic methods. Subsequently, the DNA must be stored in a suitable medium to avoid its degradation and information loss. Finally, the genetic material can be brought back and decrypted using sequencing methods to recover the original file. In this project we propose to storage this information in mammalian cells, using genetic engineering and synthetic biology tools, in which we imagine a utopia in which information is stored in our own body. Imagine storing all the information of the internet, for example, in a few genes on human chromosomes. This makes us think that we could be carriers of our own history, and the enormous amount of data that every day updates the evolution of our culture. In addition, the code of life is the fundamental unit of heredity, which makes us think that this information would be conserved and transmitted each generation. In a few years our species will evolve into a form that is probably unrecognizable, but perhaps with any luck, the digital information will be encrypted in their own genomes.

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Don't worry, we will NOT experiment with humans, but we will propose scenarios in which visitors of Science Gallery Melbourne can interact with this technology, just as we would have done in the laboratory, but in a practical and digital format. Our installation will consist of interactive modules with screens in which the user can enter words or phrases that will later be encoded into a base pair language and build synthetic genes. Through a simple game based on genetic engineering simulation software, the participant will have to create their own cloning vector that contains the encrypted message and select the vehicle with which they will introduce that information into the genome of their own body cells, all this in a digital game mode. The message can finally be decrypted back and read in its original form.

To complement our exhibition in a tangible way, we want to explore how those vectors that will carry the encoded information to our cells will be like. Through materials, shape, and color, we want to explore what vaccines, biomaterials, food or medicines will introduce the encoded digital information to our body. This is also an ethical questioning exercise in which the participants will be able to decide whether or not to ingest these products. 

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In the gallery, we will present an installation that will accompany the modules of digital representation of biodata. This installation comprises a table illuminated with light and on top of the table we will display biomaterials that will be associated with the idea of vectors. The biomaterial units will be displayed in a performance on the opening of the exhibition and will be offered in a participatory event for the audience to choose if they want to eat and introduce the units containing the encoded information into their own bodies, by eating it. Is a performative action proposed to the public to acknowledge the ethical implications of the use of this technology and offers a speculative scenario in which people can decide to introduce the encoded information on their own bodies. Each participant can decide whether to eat it or not. The edible units will be made of materials that are safe for consumption and made with natural ingredients. The edible units used at the performance are just for edible purposes and do not contain any harmful components for the human body. The performance will take place at the opening of the exhibition, and the table displaying the biomaterials with the supposed DNA encoded with information will remain for display for the whole duration of the exhibition, as a sculpture made with biomaterial.  The aspect of performativity in the installation responds to questions such as how can we imagine storing information about the history of humanity on DNA? Which technologies are available to do so? What are the ethical implications for such technologies?

Our team is made up of members with experience in synthetic biology competitions such as iGEM competition. Also, we participated in the first edition of the Science Gallery in Mexico, presenting our exhibition about interpretation of bacteriological data for the creation of musical pieces. We constantly work in interdisciplinary teams of programmers, biotechnologists, and designers. In addition, we have passionate artists involved in ​​biology, Biodesign and science.