# Key Points from #hplusroadmap IRC Discussion

• The iGEM (International Genetically Engineered Machine) competition was criticized for historically excluding non-institutionally affiliated individuals from participating in synthetic biology competitions, highlighting tensions between institutional and DIY approaches to biotechnology.

• Participants debated infrastructure needs for DIYbio projects, questioning whether specialized version control systems beyond standard git repositories are necessary for managing biobrick designs and biological project data.

• Technical discussions compared DNA sequencing technologies, analyzing the cost structures and throughput capabilities of platforms like Oxford Nanopore's portable sequencer versus Illumina's HiSeq systems.

• A PhD student sought advice on practical applications for their research on portfolio blackbox optimization algorithms, sparking a conversation about algorithm portfolios (meta-algorithms that select optimal algorithms for specific problem instances).

• Users shared and evaluated code repositories, including a GameBoy assembler written in Haskell, with technical suggestions to improve lexer and parser implementation using specialized tools like Alex and Happy.

• A project proposal for developing "pdfdiff" (a PDF comparison tool designed to remove differences between versions from different sources) revealed the community's interest in tools that could potentially remove watermarks or tracking elements from academic papers.

• The channel noted that sci-hub, a shadow library for academic papers, had recently gone offline, affecting researchers' access to scientific literature.