# Key Ideas from #hplusroadmap IRC Discussions

• Participants explored creating an open-source shipping container hackerspace with specialized areas for soldering, tissue culture, biology work, meetings, and machine shops, including detailed specifications for a BSL-2 tissue culture lab with UV lighting, vertical hoods, and HEPA filtration.

• The Standard Kit Database (SKDB) project was discussed as an open repository of mechanical components and parametric designs, aiming to enable people to build complex tools without commercial products, with debate about contribution incentives and validation methods.

• Users engaged in technical discussions about CAD representation methods, contrasting border representation (storing edges and vertices) with function representation (defining objects through mathematical functions) as taught by RepRap creator Adrian Bowyer.

• The group debated philosophical approaches to DIY healthcare technology development, contrasting traditional investment-based models with open-source, post-scarcity approaches to technology advancement.

• Practical challenges of mammalian cell culture were discussed, noting that while trypsin is affordable ($22.70 for 100ml), fetal bovine serum remains expensive ($250 for 500ml) with lot-to-lot variability affecting experimental outcomes.

• Participants explored microfluidic technologies, including liquid lenses for optical applications and microfluidic devices for PCR and disease detection as potential DIY biology applications.