- A VoxEU article was cited showing that cheaper airline travel measurably boosts scientific collaboration, prompting reflection on the relative importance of physical proximity versus digital tools in open science.

- Participants catalogued a wave of recent biotech patents covering microfluidic gene synthesis (Gen9), engineered Cas9 variants, DNA-origami spatial sequencing, bar-coded single-cell and protein arrays, and photocleavable-biotin chemistries for nucleic-acid handling.

- Research on CCA-adding enzymes was reviewed: engineered Geobacillus stearothermophilus polymerase can be repurposed into template-independent poly(C,A) or dCdCdA polymerases, and similar RNA polymerization mechanisms were discussed as tools for synthetic biology.

- A 2015 Nature Communications paper on “digitally encoded polymers” was highlighted—sequence-defined poly(alkoxyamine amide)s that can be written, read by tandem MS, and chemically erased—offering a non-natural macromolecular data-storage system.

- A new protocol for reverse-transcribing threose nucleic acid (TNA) using wild-type Bst DNA polymerase was shared; it outperforms Superscript II in yield and fidelity under standard Mg²⁺ conditions and enables in-vitro selection of TNA aptamers.

- The scarcity of high-quality open-hardware biotech devices was debated, with past and current projects (OpenPCR, OpenTrons, Hackteria, Backyard Brains, NeuroRighter, Smoothieboard, Mesa/FPGA motion-control boards) critiqued for design choices like 3-D-printed extrusions and Adobe-Air interfaces.

- A practical sub-thread explored translating OpenTrons’ JSON protocol files into G-code for LinuxCNC, enabling open-source pipetting robots to run on standard CNC controllers with real-time FPGA-based servo loops.

- Researchers discussed “size-expanded base pairs” (larger nucleotides) as a literal way to enlarge the genetic alphabet, citing a 2013 Angewandte Chemie paper on artificial genetic sets.

- Cost modeling for protein engineering suggested that at $0.01 per genome-equivalent of DNA, exhaustive mutagenesis of 100 million unique mutant protein sequences (~3.5 kbp each) becomes economically plausible for $1.

- MEMS and microfabrication resources were shared, including the ##homecmos channel, Intel’s foundry contact portal, and discussions of mechanical nanopores for high-pressure chromatography applications.