Binary DNA Nanostructures for Data Encryption
Open accessAbstract
We present a simple and secure system for encrypting and decrypting information using DNA self-assembly. Binary data is encoded in the geometry of DNA nanostructures with two distinct conformations. Removing or leaving out a single component reduces these structures to an encrypted solution of ssDNA, whereas adding back this missing "decryption key" causes the spontaneous formation of the message through self-assembly, enabling rapid read out via gel electrophoresis. Applications include authentication, secure messaging, and barcoding.
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Halvorsen and Wong used electrophoresis to demonstrate the readout of an 11 byte ASCII message.
“The authors used electrophoresis to demonstrate the readout of an 11 byte ASCII message.113”
From Emerging Approaches to DNA Data Storage: Challenges and Prospects (2022) · cites this paper as [113]
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- Authors
- Halvorsen, K., & Wong, W. P.
- Affiliations
- Boston Children's Hospital (US)
- Corresponding author
- Wong, Wesley P.
- Venue
- PLoS ONE
- Publisher
- Public Library of Science (PLoS)
- Published
- 2012-09-11
- Volume
- 7
- Issue
- 9
- Pages
- e44212
- ISSN
- 1932-6203 (ISSN-L)
- PMC
- PMC3439488
- OpenAlex
- W2130537383
- Cited by
- 45
- References
- 34
- Citations by year
- 2026: 4 · 2025: 1 · 2024: 1 · 2023: 5 · 2022: 5 · 2021: 5 · 2020: 4 · 2019: 7 · 2018: 2 · 2017: 2 · 2016: 4 · 2015: 2 · 2014: 2 · 2013: 1
- FWCI
- 0.64
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- gold
- doi.org
- Locations
- PLoS ONE (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- Europe PMC (PubMed Central) (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- PubMed Central (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Digital Access to Scholarship at Harvard (DASH) (Harvard University) (submittedVersion, cc-by)
- DOAJ (DOAJ: Directory of Open Access Journals) (submittedVersion)
- Topics
- Life Sciences › Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology › Molecular Biology › DNA and Biological Computing
- Life Sciences › Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology › Molecular Biology › Advanced biosensing and bioanalysis techniques
- Physical Sciences › Computer Science › Artificial Intelligence › Cryptography and Data Security
- Keywords
- DNA self-assembly, DNA nanostructures, data encryption, binary encoding, single-stranded DNA, decryption keys, authentication, secure messaging, DNA barcoding
- MeSH terms
- DNA, Electrophoresis, Agar Gel, Computer Security, Nanostructures
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