- A 2023 review paper, “The molecular memory code and synaptic plasticity: a synthesis,” was highlighted for its claim that learned pathogen-avoidance behavior in C. elegans is encoded by a small RNA (P11) packaged into virus-like particles, enabling extracellular memory transfer—reviving the once-dismissed idea of RNA/peptide-based memory.  
- Tony Zador’s pre-print “Encoding innate ability through a genomic bottleneck” was cited as a possible mechanism for genetically encoding instinctual behaviors, complementing the debate on whether DNA itself can serve as a hereditary memory substrate.  
- Participants explored the feasibility of “writing” a connectome into living neural tissue: proposals ranged from using femtosecond-laser microsurgery to fuse or ablate specific neurites, to engineering giant single-cell organisms (e.g., Caulerpa taxifolia) whose extended cytoplasmic streaming could simplify large-scale wiring.  
- A speculative protocol was outlined for training rat neurons on multi-electrode arrays to play a flight simulator, bar-coding their learned states into DNA/protein circuits, and then transferring those states to new cultures via engineered “linked-list” structures—suggesting a simulator-first approach before wet-lab implementation.  
- Discussion of directed neurite growth included ideas such as laser-sintering unwanted dendrites, magnetically steering pseudopodia with functionalized beads, and creating opto- or audio-responsive “dancing” bacteria as a testbed for programmable cell motility.  
- Recent technical resources shared: the 2022 IEEE IEDM program (multiple DNA-related talks), Heidelberg Instruments’ NanoFrazor Explore thermal scanning-probe lithography tool, and a Nature Microsystems & Nanoengineering review on single-cell laser surgery techniques.