Description of the thesis topic

With the unprecedented growth of digital data, the demand for efficient and reliable storage solutions has become crucial. Current state-of-the-art storage technologies face significant limitations, including low density, limited lifespan, and high maintenance requirements, making it unsustainable to keep up with the exponential growth in data. In response to this challenge, storing data in synthetic DNA has emerged as a promising alternative for next-generation storage systems due to its compactness, high durability, and energy efficiency. To put this into perspective, the entire world's data could potentially be stored in just a few kilograms of DNA, thanks to its ultra-high density, which ranges from 10^15 to 10^20 bytes per gram of DNA. However, a major challenge that must be addressed to make DNA data storage practical is ensuring the reliability of the stored data. Specifically, the read and write processes in DNA-based storage systems are prone to deletion, insertion, and substitution errors that can affect the DNA strands during synthesis, sequencing, and storage.

This PhD position offers an opportunity to contribute to the domain of error correction in DNA storage systems. Utilizing tools from information and coding theory, the PhD student will focus on designing, implementing, and optimizing innovative strategies and algorithms tailored specifically for storing data in synthetic DNA, with a primary emphasis on ensuring the reliability of the stored information.

Activities:
• Conduct research in the field of coding for DNA storage, with a special emphasis on error-correcting codes.
• Design, implement, and evaluate novel coding schemes tailored for DNA data storage applications.
• Conduct numerical simulations and wet lab experiments to validate and refine the coding strategies.
• Publish research findings in top-tier conferences and journals.
• Participate in team meetings and contribute to the overall research objectives of the Mediacoding team at I3S.

Skills:
• A master's degree in computer science, electrical engineering, bioinformatics, applied mathematics, or a related field.
• Familiarity with error-correction codes and/or information theory.
• Excellent programming skills in MATLAB or Python. Knowledge of C++ is a plus.
• Strong written and verbal communication skills in English.

Work Context

This position in within the Mediacoding team – SIS at the i3S lab - UMR7271 - in Sophia Antipolis.
The Computer Science, Signals and Systems laboratory of Sophia Antipolis (i3S), created in 1989 conducts research in information and communication sciences. With nearly 300 people, teacher-researchers, CNRS and Inria researchers, administrative and technical staff, doctoral students and trainees, it is one of the largest public laboratories on the Côte d'Azur and was one of the first to be established in the Sophia Antipolis technology park.

The position is located in a sector under the protection of scientific and technical potential (PPST), and therefore requires, in accordance with the regulations, that your arrival is authorized by the competent authority of the MESRI.

The position is located in a sector under the protection of scientific and technical potential (PPST), and therefore requires, in accordance with the regulations, that your arrival is authorized by the competent authority of the MESR.

Constraints and risks

None