RAJKIYA ENGINEERING COLLEGE

AMBEDKARNAGAR-224122

A
Seminar on

PROTEIN MEMORY
Under the guidence of
Mrs. Shashi Prabha
Anan
( Asst. Professor I.T.
Dept.)
Submitted to:-
Submitted
Mrs. Shashi by:-
Prabha Rohit Kumar
 Contents
Introduction
Present State of Storage
Devices
Protein Memory
What is Bacteriorhodopsin..?
Structure of bR
bR Photocycle
Data writing technique
Data reading technique
Data erase & refresh
Advantages
Applications
Conclusions
 Introduction
Since the dawn of time, human has tried to record their
events, information and techniques for future use.

From the evaluation of computers, many storage

techniques were used like punch cards, Storage disk,
magnetic disk and electronic chips.

Protein memory was discovered by Walther Stoeckenius

and Dieter Oesterhelt at Rockefeller University in New York.

They discovered that a protein isolated from a salt marsh

bacterium exhibited photosensitive properties. They called
this protein bacteriorhodopsin ,because it was very similar
to the protein, rhodopsin that founds in the eyes of humans
and animals.
 Present State of Storage
Device
The demand made upon the computers and computing
devices are increasing each years. However, the RAM
used in most devices are of same type.

In response to the demand for faster, more

compact and more affordable memory storage devices,
several alternative have appeared in recent years.
Among the most promising approaches include
memory storage using protein-based memory.
 Protein Memory

How Protein Memory compete with electronic memory?

1. Speed
2. Reliability
3. Capability
4. Cost

It is 3-Dimensional Optical RAM Storage using the light

sensitive protein bacteriorhodopsin.

Basic unit of Protein Memory

Bacterial protein molecule - Bacteriorhodopsin (bR)

 Bacteriorhodopsin
Bacteriorhodopsin is a protein found in purple
membranes of several species bacteria, most notably
Halobacterium Halobium.

The main scheme of this protein that changes

structure when it is exposed to light, the two lasting
state can be assigned the binary value 0 or 1, making it
possible to store information as series of
Bacteriorhodopsin molecules in one state or another.
 Structure of bR

Bacteriodopsin as
all
Retinal proteins
from
Halobacterium folds
into
a seven-Tran
membrane helix
topology with short
interconnecting loops.

The Retinol molecule

is connected via
Schiff base
to the Lysin (Lys-216)
into helix G.
 bR Photocycle
Green Light Source

Convert bR
Convert
Blue Light Source

K Q

Relax Relax

M P

Relax Convert

Red Light Source

Data Writing
Technique
Data Reading
Technique
 Data Erase and
Refresh
Blue laser erases encoded data.

Q state absorb blue light and return to original

bR state.

Individual data can be erased using blue laser.

The page is refreshed by new write operation.

 Advantages

This is based on protein that is inexpensive to produce

in quantity.
The system has the ability to operate over a wider range
of temperatures than a semiconductor memory can do.
The data is stable i.e. the memory systems power is
turned off, the molecules retain their information.
This is portable i.e. we can remove small data cubes and
ship GBs of data around for storage or backups.
Data can be stored for many years without any
refreshment.
 Applications

Ultra fast RAM

Finger print processing

Optical switches

Neural Logic gates (genetic engineering).

 Conclusion

During the past decade, the speed of computer

processors increased almost 1,000 times, where as
data storage capacities increased only by a factor
of 50. Also, the transfer of data within the
computer remains the principal bottleneck that
limits performance.

Protein memories use laser beam, which

improve their life with reduction in wear and tear.
 References

www.cem.msu.edu

www.ieee.org

www.wikipedia.com

www.slideshare.net

www.scribd.com

Samuel Styne Protein Based Three Dimensional Memory,

Aug-2002
Thank You
Any Question..?