• OpenAPS (openaps.org) is a fully-functional, open-source “artificial pancreas” built and used by diabetics; its codebases (openaps/oref0 on GitHub) serve as a working model of community-driven medical hardware.  
• SELEX (Systematic Evolution of Ligands by Exponential Enrichment) was dissected as the core method for evolving DNA/RNA aptamers, but key patents are held by Gilead and sub-licensed to Archemix and NOXXON, prompting discussion of open-source work-arounds and medical-tourism strategies.  
• A proposal emerged to evolve ribosomes in vitro—via ribosome display coupled to peptide-sequencing readout—to synthesize very long or human-controllable proteins without the need for 64 orthogonal tRNA/synthetase pairs.  
• FISSEQ (in situ RNA sequencing) was debated: while cyclic antibody imaging is simpler for fixed tissue, bar-coded aptamers plus FISSEQ could enable multiplexed protein imaging with theoretically unlimited colors in a single snapshot.  
• Participants explored low-cost DNA synthesis routes, including resurrecting 2004-era inkjet DNA printers (POSAM) and the challenge of sourcing non-graphics-grade inkjet hardware that avoids crippling $10 k/g reagent pricing.  
• Communication with intracellular “nanobots” was sketched: retro-reflector modulators (10 kbps, μW-level) from Berkeley Smart Dust, optical/IR LEDs, and long-term visions of cells encoding messages in circulating DNA read by heart-implanted nanopore arrays.  
• Recent optogenetic tools catalogued include genetically encoded azobenzene and spiropyran unnatural amino acids for visible-light protein switching, a blue-light-inducible degradation domain (B-LID) for rapid protein removal, and photoswitchable Zn²⁺-binding proteins.  
• Key resources and papers shared: aptamer overview and patent landscape, ribozyme RNA polymerases, terminal deoxynucleotidyl transferase substrates for non-natural nucleotides, ACS/JACS papers on visible-light azobenzene and GFP photoswitches, US patent US20150269313A1 on DNA data storage, and the open-source “science_concierge” literature-mining tool.