San Francisco (CA) – DNA Direct, a new San Francisco-based company, is offering a rather unique way of preserving your DNA.  The company dries and “shrink wraps” DNA and the material can be stored at room temperature practically anywhere.  When the customer or more likely relatives need the information, they simply add a few drops of water and PRESTO, you have reconstituted DNA.

DNA Archive kit 

“You can store DNA Archive at home, in a safe deposit box — anywhere you choose,” states the DNA Direct website.

The “DNA archive” service costs $175 and does involve some work on the customer’s part.  A DNA sampling kit containing a cheek swab kit is purchased from the company’s website.  The customer then takes a sample from their cheek and mails it back with a postage-paid envelope.  DNA Direct then dries the DNA and adds a synthetic material to stabilize the substance.  Three test tubes of the dry material is then sent back to the customer.

So why would you need to have your DNA frozen?  Paternity tests would be the obvious answer, but since the service is so new it’s unknown how the courts would view the veracity of the evidence.  There is a definite chain of custody issue here since it’s difficult to prove that the substance in the tube is the same one sent from the company.

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