Encrypted Oligonucleotide Arrays for Molecular Authentication

Counterfeiting is
an incredibly widespread problem, with some estimates
placing its economic impact above 2% of worldwide GDP. The scale of
the issue suggests that current preventive measures are either technologically
insufficient or too impractical and costly to be widely adopted. High-density
arrays of biomolecules are explored here as security devices that
can be coupled to a valuable commodity as proof of its authenticity.
Light-directed DNA array fabrication technology is used to synthesize
arrays that are designed to resist analysis with sequencing-by-hybridization
approaches. A relatively simple sequence design strategy forces a
counterfeiter to undertake a prohibitively high number of complex
experiments to decipher the array sequences employed.