DVDs coated with a layer of genetically-altered microbe proteins could one day hold terabytes of information, says a US-based researcher, reporting his findings at the International Conference on Nanoscience and Nanotechnology in Brisbane this week.

Venkatesan Renugopalakrishnan, a professor of Biomedical Engineering at Florida International University and an internationally recognized expert in protein structural biology and engineering has invented a next-generation means of storage technology that dwarfs current technology.

Renu (as the professor is known) and his team at BioFold Inc., a California-based firm that he founded in 1999, in collaboration with FIU and other corporate labs, are designing a single-layer DVD that can store up to 198 gigabytes of data – more than 20 times the capacity of a dual-layer DVD-9. The technology will be able to store even up to 50,000 gigabytes (about 50 terabytes), he says.

The storage medium for Renu’s DVD is bacteriorhodopsin, a protein first discovered in the late-1970s that thrives naturally in salty marshes. The protein can be manufactured synthetically and has properties that lend it to be used as a storage medium. “When bacteriorhodopsin absorbs light, it undergoes structural changes. It goes through a cascade of states,” Renu explained. "It flip-flops from one state to another just as it does in a binary-switching mechanism.”

Like existing DVDs, as well as other disc-based storage systems, a laser is used to read and write on the new DVD. In addition to the vastly increased storage capacity, the new DVD has access speed much faster than existing systems and comparable speeds of reading and writing data. In addition to DVDs, the technology could be used for computer hard drives.

In conjunction with NEC in Japan, Renu's team has produced a prototype device and estimate a USB disk will be commercialised in 12 months and a DVD in 18 to 24 months.

The work has been funded by a range of US military, government, academic institutions and commercial companies, as well as the European Union.

Renu and his team are studying other applications of bacteriorhodopsin for flat-screen monitors, high-definition television, optical switching and photographic film as an alternative to conventional silver-based film. Photography giant Kodak has shown an interest in his research in this latter area.

Story filed 13.08.08