- The U.S. now faces a critical shortage of FDA-approved coral-snake antivenom after Wyeth/Pfizer exited the market, illustrating systemic fragility in biologics supply chains and the continued reliance on costly (~$2,000/vial) polyclonal serum extracted from immunized animals.

- Participants compared ink-jet DNA microarray synthesis (POSAM/POGO platform) with photolithography: ink-jet eliminates photolabile protecting groups and treats each droplet as an independent microreactor, whereas photolithography achieves higher spot density but at greater process complexity and capital cost (~$23 k for the original POSAM motion stage).

- Recent academic use of the POSAM system was noted in 2010 Duke and 2011 follow-up studies for on-chip gene synthesis and protein-expression optimization, indicating that ink-jet DNA synthesis remains an active—if niche—research tool.

- DIY microfluidic fabrication techniques shared include UV-curable polymers with printed masks for molds, PDMS and SIFEL fluorinated silicone for solvent-resistant chips, vacuum degassing, and corona treatment for glass bonding; PDMS swelling in DNA-synthesis solvents was flagged as a key materials-compatibility hurdle.

- Kilobaser, a low-cost benchtop DNA-synthesis startup, was highlighted for repurposing a microwave oven to perform corona surface treatment of microfluidic chips, demonstrating accessible hardware hacks for bio-foundries.

- Open-hardware resources linked include MIT’s parametric XY motion stage, Bryan Bishop’s expanding wiki on OpenCASCADE CAD methods, and plans to migrate the “mcad.git” mechanical-parts library to CadQuery, a Python-based parametric CAD scripting library praised for its FreeCAD integration.

- Vendor lock-in on inkjet printheads was discussed: inexpensive heads capable of handling aggressive bio-inks exist, but companies like HP withhold developer kits to block third-party ink markets, constraining open-source bioprinting efforts.