Method and apparatus for dna-based authentication system

Abstract

Techniques for biochemcally-enabled security/authentication mechanisms are described herein. In an example embodiment, a security system receives a biological sample from a key. The biological sample includes a set of deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) oligos that represent a code associated with the key. The set of DNA oligos is sequenced to obtain a set of read sequences, where sequencing is performed at less than four minutes per cycle of sequencing. The set of read sequences is then filtered to identify a set of filtered sequences. The set of filtered sequences is matched to sets of expected sequences, where the sets of expected sequences are assigned to respective keys issued for the security system. Access to a resource is then granted or denied based on whether the set of filtered sequences matches with any set from the sets of expected sequences.

What is claimed is: 
     
         1 . A method for controlling access to a resource, the method comprising:
 receiving a biological sample from a key, wherein the biological sample includes a set of deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) oligos that are synthesized to represent a designed code associated with the key;   sequencing the set of DNA oligos to obtain a set of read sequences (RS), wherein sequencing is performed at less than four minutes per cycle of sequencing;   filtering the set of RS based on counts of sequences in the set of RS, to identify a set of filtered sequences (FS);   comparing the set of FS to sets of expected sequences (ES), wherein the sets of ES are associated with respective issued keys; and   granting or denying access to the resource based on whether the set of FS matches with any set from the sets of ES.   
     
     
         2 . The method of  claim 1 , further comprising performing error detection or error correction on the set of RS. 
     
     
         3 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein filtering the set of RS comprises binning the set of RS into bins, wherein each bin has a respective count of sequences therein. 
     
     
         4 . The method of  claim 3 , wherein filtering the set of RS further comprises identifying the set of FS based on those bins whose counts are greater than a threshold value. 
     
     
         5 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein comparing the set of FS to the sets of ES comprises determining whether the set of FS is equal to at least one set of ES. 
     
     
         6 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein comparing the set of FS to the sets of ES comprises determining whether at least one set of ES is a subset of the set of FS. 
     
     
         7 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the code associated with the key is designed to include multiple sequences. 
     
     
         8 . The method of  claim 7 , wherein the number of the multiple sequences is in a range between 2 and 2000, inclusive. 
     
     
         9 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the key is a master-key, and the set of DNA oligos represents M codes associated with each of K keys, wherein M and K are numbers greater than 1. 
     
     
         10 . The method of  claim 9 , wherein the set of RS includes M*K clusters of sequences, each cluster having a respective count of sequences therein. 
     
     
         11 . The method of  claim 10 , further comprising validating the set of RS by computing a ratio between the counts of any two clusters. 
     
     
         12 . The method of  claim 10 , further comprising validating the master-key, wherein validating the master-key comprises:
 comparing the count of each cluster to a first threshold value in order to determine valid sequences; and   determining whether the master-key is valid by comparing the number of the valid sequences to a second threshold value.   
     
     
         13 . The method of  claim 10 , further comprising validating the master-key, wherein validating the master-key comprises:
 computing a percent of impurity for the set of RS; and   determining whether the master-key is valid by comparing the percent of impurity to a threshold value.   
     
     
         14 . The method of  claim 9 , wherein M is equal to  3  and K is equal to  5 . 
     
     
         15 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the code associated with the key includes multiple sequences, and the set of DNA oligos is synthesized based on the multiple sequences. 
     
     
         16 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the code associated with the key includes a password sequence, and the set of DNA oligos is synthesized to include an oligo representing the password sequence. 
     
     
         17 . The method of  claim 16 , further comprising:
 determining whether the password sequence is included in the set of RS; and   determining that the key is invalid when the password sequence is not included in the set of RS.   
     
     
         18 . The method of  claim 1 , further comprising receiving and attempting to verify one or more of an electronic password, a fingerprint, and a retina scan, wherein sequencing the set of DNA oligos is performed only after or before the one or more of the electronic password, the fingerprint, and the retina scan are verified. 
     
     
         19 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the code associated with the key includes multiple sequences derived from a genome of a human person. 
     
     
         20 . The method of  claim 1 , further comprising:
 applying a ligase to the biological sample in order to ligate oligos from the set of DNA oligos;   after sequencing the set of DNA oligos, determining the lengths of the sequences included in the set of RS; and   validating the set of DNA oligos based on the determined lengths.