- GP-Write accepted and published Bryan Bishop’s “Pilot Project” proposal for large-scale genome writing, available at http://engineeringbiologycenter.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/10/Bishop-Pilot-Project.pdf.  
- A new pre-print on bioRxiv describes engineering brain parasites (Toxoplasma gondii) to deliver therapeutic proteins inside neurons, a concept Bishop had outlined in a 2017 talk (page 15 of http://diyhpl.us/~bryan/irc/2017-02-03-beacon.pdf).  
- Microsoft’s open-source SEAL library (https://github.com/Microsoft/SEAL) was highlighted; it provides C++ implementations of BFV and CKKS homomorphic-encryption schemes for privacy-preserving computation.  
- Discussion of the He Jiankui CRISPR-baby scandal included:  
  – Wired reported that Synthego’s synthetic RNAs may have been used and that the company is now tightening customer screening.  
  – Claims that the work was “illegal in the United States” were challenged; participants noted no specific federal statute prohibits implantation of gene-edited embryos unless federally funded.  
  – Addgene’s trust-based reagent-distribution model and the limits of self-regulation were debated.  
- Participants argued that moral objections to enhancement editing mirror earlier panics over IVF and surrogacy, and that “protectionist” arguments against enhancement rest on zero-sum assumptions that undervalue human potential.