# Key Points from IRC Discussion on Transhumanist Technologies

• Participants discussed various biotechnology patents and research, including microfluidic devices for gene synthesis, assembly of high-fidelity polynucleotides, mutant Cas9 proteins, and spatial sequencing using DNA origami probes, representing cutting-edge tools in genetic engineering.

• The group explored template-independent RNA polymerization by tRNA nucleotidyltransferases, highlighting how enzymes can be reengineered to function as different types of polymerases, which has significant implications for synthetic biology applications.

• Several open-source hardware projects for biotechnology were discussed, including The ODIN, Synbiota, OpenPCR, Opentrons, and Hackteria, demonstrating the community's interest in democratizing access to biotech tools.

• A technical comparison of motion control systems for laboratory automation contrasted LinuxCNC (running on x86 processors with FPGA support) versus microcontroller-based solutions like Arduino and Smoothieboard, addressing precision requirements for biotech applications.

• Research on information storage in synthetic polymers was shared, including "digitally encoded polymers that can be decoded and erased" and "sequence-controlled polymers using macrocyclic ring opening metathesis polymerization," pointing to advances in molecular data storage.

• The economic feasibility of large-scale protein engineering was calculated, suggesting that at $0.01/genome, one could synthesize 100 million unique mutant protein sequences (~3.5kbp) for just $1, highlighting the rapidly decreasing costs of biological experimentation.

• Participants discussed research on artificial genetic systems, including threose nucleic acid (TNA) reverse transcription and size-expanded base pairs, exploring the potential for expanding the functionality of genetic information beyond natural DNA.