# Key Points from #hplusroadmap IRC Discussion

• Participants discussed DNA synthesizer technology (specifically an ABI 391 model), examining its technical specifications, fluidic schematics, and planning a teardown to reverse engineer it, while noting significant challenges with chemical reagents that have limited shelf life and extreme sensitivity to contamination.

• The conversation revealed practical challenges of DNA synthesis, including the high cost of reagents (~$1200 for a complete set), proper disposal requirements for hazardous laboratory chemicals, and plans for synthesizing specific DNA sequences like PCR primers and fluorescent proteins.

• Users shared and discussed several GitHub repositories, including "thumbnailpolish" for visualizing Illumina sequencing thumbnail images, "pdfparanoia" for stripping tracking information from academic PDFs, and other technical tools like a recursive Docker implementation and VR browser plugin.

• A significant portion of the discussion centered on "paperbot," a tool for accessing paywalled academic papers, with debate about technical approaches for distributed paper scraping and the legal/ethical considerations of crowdfunding such a service.

• Participants compared academic paper repositories and services, noting that Mendeley uploads users' papers to their servers, pdf.yt mirrors documents to Internet Archive, and LibGen (Library Genesis) offers approximately 12TB of academic content via torrents.

• The group discussed 3D printing achievements, with one user reporting 37 micron layer resolution using a 1080p Acer projector, and compared various CNC manufacturing technologies, noting limitations of inexpensive mills advertised on Kickstarter for cutting aluminum.

• A paper about using goat hair for microfluidics applications was shared, representing an interesting trend of using unconventional materials like yarn for microfluidic systems.