- The National Academies’ 2017 consensus report on human gene editing was circulated; participants derided its $80 price tag and its blanket recommendation to “not proceed at this time” with any non-therapeutic human genome editing (pdf page 22), viewing it as anti-enhancement and out of step with emerging regulatory realities.  
- Ichor Therapeutics announced a $795 k Series A round—backed by Kizoo, SENS Research Foundation, and FightAging.org—to advance LYSOCLEAR, a recombinant enzyme therapy targeting A2E-laden lysosomes in retinal pigment epithelium as the first clinical candidate explicitly derived from the SENS damage-repair paradigm.  
- The Broad Institute prevailed over UC Berkeley in the CRISPR-Cas9 patent interference, prompting the release of key court documents and timelines; Broad emphasized its open distribution of >37 k CRISPR plasmids via Addgene and continued non-exclusive licensing to industry partners.  
- Discussion highlighted “squeeze poration” (cells forced through micro-channels to uptake free DNA) as a novel physical transfection method mentioned on page 214 of the consensus report.  
- A synthetic-biology paper in Nature Chemical Biology described a 2-bit fragrance-programmable analog-to-digital converter built from engineered mammalian cell consortia, using gaseous inputs, cell-to-cell signaling, and recombinase logic gates—though participants questioned its novelty versus optogenetic systems.  
- Participants criticized mainstream media framing (e.g., NPR) that warned of “permanent” germline changes while ignoring the same technology’s ability to reverse edits in subsequent generations; maaku proposed a refundable IVF-plus-gene-therapy fund as a pragmatic safeguard.  
- Anecdotal evidence suggested at least one offshore medical-tourism clinic is already offering embryo genome editing, underscoring the gap between policy debates and on-the-ground practice.