#442 DNA Computing, Search, and Data Storage with David Turek, CTO of CATALOG

Today we’re talking to David Turek, CTO of CATALOG. And we discuss David’s journey from running the supercomputing division at IBM to CTO of a startup building DNA computers. Use cases for DNA data storage, search, and computing, and insight into what it looks like in practice to store and manipulate data using chemistry.

All of this right here, right now, on the ModernCTO Podcast! 

To learn more about CATALOG, check them out at https://www.catalogdna.com

About David Turek:

David comes to Catalog from IBM where he held numerous executive positions in High Performance Computing and emerging technologies.   He was the development executive for the IBM SP program which produced the first commercially successful massively parallel system; he started IBM’s Linux Cluster business; launched an early offering in Cloud computing called Deep Computing Capacity on Demand;  produced the Roadrunner system, the world’s first petascale computer; and was responsible for IBM’s exascale strategy which led to the deployment of the Summit and Sierra systems at Oak Ridge and Lawrence Livermore National Laboratories respectively.   He has been invited to testify to Congress on numerous occasions regarding the future of computing in the US and has helped establish technical collaborations with universities, businesses, and government agencies around the world. In his free time David enjoys going for walks in the woods with his dog, Huckleberry.

About CATALOG:

The idea of storing information using DNA has been around for a while. It’s just that the cost of DNA synthesis has been a bottle neck. What CATALOG is building can be thought of as a printing press with movable typefaces. Instead of having to synthesize billions of different molecules, we are creating the necessary diversity by moving around the typefaces in different combinations.