- DNA synthesis has been price-stagnant at $0.03–0.10 per base pair since 2014 because assembly, verification and logistics—not oligo chemistry—are now the dominant cost drivers; participants argue that a 1000-fold drop in oligo price is required to reach “$1/genome” and see yeast-based >100-fragment assembly as the most credible near-term route to one-pot genome builds.

- Commercial and academic players were mapped: Twist Bioscience just closed a $27 M round, while enzymatic DNA-synthesis start-ups (DNA Script, Molecular Assemblies, Nuclera, Evonetix) race to break the chemistry bottleneck; SB7.0 conference recaps highlighted recoded E. coli via yeast assembly, BGI’s claim of a $100 human genome within five years, and MAGE-based removal of seven codons that already consumes oligo volumes comparable to whole-genome synthesis.

- CRISPR innovation and controversy: a new inducible, multiplex human transcription-factor system using CRISPR-Cpf1 was shared (bioRxiv 150656), while Nature issued an “expression of concern” on a high-profile off-target paper after company pressure; nanoparticle CRISPR delivery (liposome core with DNA “hairs” for mammalian uptake) and the provocative idea of using Toxoplasma gondii as an evolved, cognition-enhancing brain gene-delivery vector were also discussed.

- Open-source hardware and wet-lab efforts include reverse-engineering Emotiv EEG headsets (openyou/emokit #256), drafting an electronically-controlled, physically-tethered polymerase for DNA synthesis in a public Google Doc, and designing DIY oligo synthesizers by repurposing phosphoramidite inkjet printers with humidity-controlled inert-gas chambers.

- Community strategy debates concluded that sustainable DIYbio ecosystems will emerge from small, mission-focused projects and open hardware rather than generic hackerspaces, with Chicago floated as the next hub; supporting resources included the Interplanetary Science Hardware Database (ipmdatabase.webnode.com), a new “Biohacker chat” video with Hannu Rajaniemi and Josiah Zayner, and links to the 2016 HGP-Write timeline, Stanford pairing-crypto talk, libsnark repo, and zero-knowledge proof papers.