Exploring DeSci: 24 DeSci DAO’s Doing Amazing Things

Exploring DeSci: 24 DeSci DAO’s Doing Amazing Things

DeSci allows for a more decentralized and distributed scientific research model, making it more resistant to censorship & control by central authority

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Nonstack
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Table of contents

Just three months ago, I never knew something like decentralized science existed. I got to know that something as such existed after joining VitaDAO. Meanwhile, I only joined VitaDAO because I was fascinated by their mission, which is funding and facilitating research in the longevity space. Anyways, I also love their branding. It's not every day you see a DAO giving attention to details. OK, here is the deal. The more I read about this topic, the more intrigued I become. The good thing about DeSci is that it's an emerging technology and niche, so you can easily keep up with the growth and build a career around it early. So, without much ado, I have quickly snapped www.desciafrica.com, which I want to use to drive adoption and awareness of decentralized science in Africa. In layperson's terms, decentralized science is a way to make science more open and frictionless, from publishing to funding. This will enable more scientific progress by allowing more people to participate in the scientific process. DeSci provides for a more decentralized and distributed scientific research model, making it more resistant to censorship and control by central authorities. I will go through this in greater detail in another article. I have done thorough research online and outlined all the DeSciDAO available; I will keep updating this list as more come out. I'm currently working on more articles about space, and I hope to cover an insane number of topics. Without much ado, here are the DAOs in the space that you should know.

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AthenaDAO

AthenaDAO is the first platform dedicated to assisting female researchers with company formation, community building, and capital access to increase diversity in biotech truly. AthenaDAO uses blockchain and cryptocurrency to fund reproductive health care for women. Their goal is to close the funding gap in reproductive health research and access using blockchain technology to raise capital through token sales to fund research, drug development programs, and innovations. Most of the founders of this DAO have affiliations and hold a role at VitaDAO.

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Members:

VitaDAO

VitaDAO is one of the biggest DAOs in the Decentralized Science space. VitaDAO is a DAO collective for community-governed and decentralized drug development on a mission to accelerate the research and development (R&D) in the longevity space and the extension of human life and health span. To achieve this, VitaDAO support and funds new therapeutics and research data in the field of longevity science. In exchange, VitaDAO will directly own the intellectual property and data rights to the novel early-stage therapeutics it supports and funds.

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Socials:

MedDAO

MedDAO is currently building a distributed medical knowledge network that will allow healthcare providers, patients, and other stakeholders to interact and interconnect at an exponentially higher level. These network effects can completely transform the global delivery of healthcare. MedDAO plans to achieve this by establishing a decentralized community and protocol with the primary goal of disseminating medical knowledge without using boundaries, barriers, or intermediaries. With the end goal of increasing the adoption and awareness of decentralized healthcare, also known as Healthcare 3.0. MedDAO was founded and funded by DecentraMed, LLC, a Wyoming LLC. The owners of DecentraMed.

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Socials:

Opsci DAO

Opsci is a community of open science activists, researchers, organizers, and enthusiasts who came together to work on the problems of knowledge creation, such as data sharing, reproducibility, incentive alignment, coordination, and intellectual ownership. They hope to accomplish this by establishing a scientific ecosystem that breaks down data silos, coordinates collaboration, and democratizes funding, with the long-term goal of establishing a global network of automated knowledge foundries where scientists and AI collaborate to create new knowledge.

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Socials:

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The Science DAO

The Science DAO is a decentralized think tank, incubator engine, and accelerator platform that aims to enable inventors, entrepreneurs, and institutions to collaborate and make informed investments across various technologies and life sciences.

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GenomesDAO

Dr. Mark Hahnel and Aldo de Pape launched Genomes.io, a startup that secures genomic data, together in 2018. I'm a member of this DAO and value its goals and objectives. This is likely a result of my aspirations to pursue a Ph.D. in bioinformatics. Three groups of people can use Genomes.io's services: members of the public, businesses, and researchers.

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  • For the general public, they offer access to clinical quality 30x whole genome sequencing, personalized genomic reports based on the data, and secure data storage in their personal DNA Vault. With the Genomes mobile app, you can control third-party access to your DNA vault and get paid for contributing data to research without losing your privacy or giving up ownership of your genome.
  • For researchers (e.g., pharmaceutical or biotech companies, academia), Genomes.io offers the ability to query databases of high-quality genomic datasets easily. Researchers can now leverage access to this database to understand the causes of disease better and develop new drugs. Genome.io genomic data can be available to researchers to supercharge medical innovation without compromising individuals' privacy or ownership rights.

Finally, Genomes.io provides organizations (such as rare illness patient organizations, population sequencing efforts, and healthcare providers) with its DNA vault technology to assist in the creation of safe and participant-owned genomic databases. Genomes.io enables organizations to share participant genetic data responsibly, guaranteeing private and transparent data access, informed repeat permission, and fair pay.

ResearchHub

ResearchHub aims to create cutting-edge mobile and web applications where individuals can collaborate on scientific research more effectively, similar to what GitHub has done for software engineering; ResearchHub's mission is to quicken the pace of scientific research. Researchers can upload publications (preprint or postprint) in PDF format, summarize their research in a wiki that is attached, and then discuss their findings in a forum that is entirely open to the public and devoted to the particular article in question.

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Crispr DAO

CRISPR DAO is establishing a decentralized organization to fund cutting-edge CRISPR research to advance potential therapies and Ag-tech solutions.

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LabDAO

LabDAO is a group of scientists and engineers sharing open life science research tools. The mission of the community is to accelerate progress in the life sciences by making computational and wet-lab tools available to all members. LabDAO is creating an online home for scientists and inventors by bringing accessible tools, dynamic teams, and funding sources. Members of LabDAO develop algorithms and laboratory processes for peer-to-peer exchange with community members.

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Resources:

  • Arye & Niklas–Building a labDAO for web3 Biotech
  • Niklas Rindtorff–Graph Based Protocols
  • UltraRare podcast episode featuring LabDAO; also here.
  • Monthly updates: summary of what happened

PsyDAO

PsyDAO wishes to revolutionize R&D and ownership of psychedelic IP using the permissionless, trustless, decentralized, and censorship-resistant web and web3. PsyDAO is using crypto to create a decentralized and unmonopolizable future for psychedelic research. Members of the PsyDAO can vote on which studies and research should be funded, which data should be shared, and how the DAO should commercialize the results of these studies. PsyDAO utilizes new open-source models for IP tokenization, IPNFTs, and IP rights distribution, with ethical encumbrances, through fungible tokens.

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DeSciWorldDAO

DeSciWorld aims to become the communications entity to promote and expand the culture of decentralized science. It is currently Funded and directed by the DeSci WorldDAO, which will function principally as a growth treasury for the community. Although it may support proposed research grants in the community, its primary role is to foster peer-to-peer interactions and the community infrastructure that will allow deSci to flourish.

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BioDAO

BioDAO is a community of biotech innovators with a reliable funding source for the ecosystem and democratized access to talent. Given typical attrition rates and regulatory requirements, BioDAO plans to initiate 20-30 projects per year for the next five years, resulting in 3-5 new therapies per year in the next 6–10 years in the next 6–10 years. This success rate will effectively double the number of life-saving therapeutics available to patients over the next ten years.

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NeuraDAO

NeuraDAO has a single goal: to accelerate collaborative, efficient, and democratic, scientific progress for the benefit of society. NeuraDAO believes that neurotechnology is the next big emerging technology that will reach an inflection point soon, so we are concentrating our efforts on it.

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Cherubs DAO

The Cherubs DAO is an NFT-owned and managed social impact investment fund with the mission of investing in causes that are important to Cherubs DAO members. A new Cherub NFT (a "Cherub") is born daily and auctioned off to the highest bidder. The proceeds from Cherub sales go to the Cherubs DAO treasury.

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Each Cherub has one vote on how the treasury is spent to help the Cherubs DAO mission. For the Cherubs DAO mission, seven macro causes have been identified. Climate, crypto advocacy, curing diseases, education, inclusion & equality, and poverty & hunger are among the causes listed in addition to the general "All Causes."

FrontierDAO

FrontierDAO is a Decentralized Autonomous Organization (DAO) founded to fund scientific and engineering research and innovation for the public good. One way they do this is by minting, collecting, and facilitating the sale of intellectual property as digital assets. This can be scientific research and engineering breakthroughs published as digital assets and then minted as Non-Fungible Tokens (NFTs) by the author and intellectual property holder. These are made by and for people in the aerospace, engineering, science, academic, and research fields.

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Research Collective

A research collective is a network of qualified researchers who conduct experiments to test hypotheses. After that, the samples are analyzed, and a trusted third party signs the results. If the data is conclusive, the collective enters the knowledge market. Just moments before releasing the experiment's data to the public, the DAO uses the proceeds from the knowledge market to fund clinical research at Molecule. A token enables researchers and institutions to align incentives to commercialize an idea.

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ValleyDAO

ValleyDAO is an open, global community collectively financing and democratizing access to synthetic biology technologies to protect our planet's future. Synthetic biology uses biological organisms to sustainably produce products such as animal-free meat, nutrients, clothing, fuels, fertilizers, and medicine. ValleyDAO believes that having access to these technologies will be critical in addressing the existential threats of climate change and food security.

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HairDAO

HairDAO is a decentralized autonomous organization dedicated to improving hair loss solutions. Their community includes researchers, engineers, content creators, and investors – all of whom contribute their expertise towards helping us solve the problem. HairDAO operates on the Ethereum blockchain and pools capital through $HAIR, their native token.

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CureDAO

There are currently thousands of unpatentable treatments and dietary factors that would never generate enough profit to cover the $1 billion cost of research. CureDAO aims to democratize clinical research. They are developing an open-source platform to investigate how millions of variables, such as foods, drugs, and supplements, affect human health.

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DeNature LLC

DenatureDAO is a decentralized science DAO that aims to empower STEM innovators using blockchain technology.

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OpenNMN

OpenNMS is Decentralized Biotech DAO formed to make the supplement NMN accessible and the means of production open-source and community-owned. Nicotinamide mononucleotide (NMN) is the subject of current research into longevity and aging. NMN can be converted to NAD+ in our bodies; NAD+ plays a role in maintaining our DNA and modifying our epigenome. Research is ongoing; if this compound extends and enhances human life, it should be openly available to anyone who wishes to use it.

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AntidoteDAO

AntidoteDAO is on a mission to democratize cancer research. They claim to be the first DAO exclusively fund cancer research initiatives.

Reputable DAO

Reputable enables the emergence of a decentralized precision wellness ecosystem by placing Truth front and center. Reputable empowers everyone to optimize their health holistically, providing them with evidence-based, actionable, and personalized betterment protocols that allow people to live longer, healthier, and happier lives. Users retain ownership of their data and are incentivized to monetize it, powering up a Web3 wellness data economy that can revolutionize healthcare by rebalancing its incentive mechanisms and illuminating the truth in wellness at its core.

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FutureFoods DAO

Future FoodsDAO will be a flagship community on the blockchain for the alternative protein industry that funds, develops, acquires, owns, and disseminates foundational technologies to expand the sector. It will offer an open-source marketplace for scientists and alternative protein advocates to trade and share tools they can use to further R&D in the industry. The combination of limited funding resources for researchers and access to research outputs locked in silos (universities, corporations, etc.) hinders development and the broader impact of critical technologies and the industry's growth. The DAO will accelerate open-source research and development while generating a self-sustaining ecosystem through an innovative revenue model.

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Conclusion

It wasn't easy putting all of these together, but I did it. I'll keep adding to the list as new information becomes available. Paying attention to Desci is essential if you work in science. The market is currently changing. Biotech has traditionally been a centralized industry, with most companies based in a few cities and staffed by in-house scientists. Decentralization is now emerging in biotech in a variety of ways: Startups are now launching outside of major metropolitan areas, sharing lab space, hiring internationally, and collaborating on research projects. Some companies are even giving up on physical lab space in favor of a "virtual biotech" model that entails outsourcing research processes. I am currently part of VitaDAO, and I'm amazed by how quickly they get things done. Within ten months of its launch, VitaDAO has evaluated over 60 research proposals and financed almost two million dollars worth of research across ten projects.

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