# Summary of IRC Log from October 3, 2016

* A paper on "Posttranslational mutagenesis" was shared, describing C-C bond-forming reactions on proteins under biocompatible conditions that enable diverse side-chains to be added to proteins outside the constraints of ribosomes and enzymatic processing.

* Several AI research papers were mentioned, including "Towards deep symbolic reinforcement learning" and a note about ADMM (alternating direction method of multipliers) as a potential replacement for backpropagation in deep learning.

* Biological data storage advances were discussed, including "Capacity-approaching DNA storage" research and a tool for searching guide DNA for CRISPR-Cas9 target sequences.

* A discussion about molecular manufacturing occurred, referencing an OpenPhil interview with Eric Drexler and Adam Marblestone about atomically precise manufacturing and a potential "molecular 3D printer" project.

* Participants debated whether entire synthetic minimal cells are necessary for molecular manufacturing, with some arguing that in vitro protein synthesis and DNA origami techniques already enable creation of complex structures without full cells.

* Whole-cell computational modeling papers were shared, including "A whole-cell computational model predicts phenotype from genotype" and "The future of whole-cell modeling" from Stanford.

* Several upcoming events were mentioned, including the Scaling Bitcoin conference in Milan, the Igem Giant Jamboree registration deadline, and the SynBioBeta conference.