Can DAOs Produce the Next Life-Changing Drugs and Therapeutics?

Like many new ideas I come across, Twitter delivered me a term a couple of weeks ago that was entirely foreign to me: Decentralized Science (or DeSci). Shortly after, I found myself on a webpage from Vincent Weisser that organized readings about DeSci and curated some of the early projects out there.

The concept of Decentralized Science is fascinating. It’s a model of science focused on organizing the efforts of a community, crowdfunding research or drug discovery, and providing complete transparency on the blockchain.

What I found most interesting is that DeSci seems to be finding most of its home not in NFTs, but in DAOs:

• LabDAO – creating an open, community-run network of laboratories
• GenomesDAO – a biotech DAO focused on the safe, private, and auditable monetization of genomic data using DeFi
• Molecule – a decentralized biotech protocol porting IP into web3 and launching biotech DAOs like VitaDAO and PsyDAO
• VitaDAO – a community-owned collective funding early-stage longevity research
• PsyDAO – DAO funding research at the intersection of psychedelics and mental health

This is just a sample size of the projects that are gaining steam out there. For example, Decentralized.Science has brought the laborious process of peer-reviewed research onto the blockchain. They’re making the entire process more transparent and rewarding for contributors.

There’s a lot to unpack in DeSci. So in today’s video, we discuss Decentralized Science and how we think it will impact everything from drug discovery to health data monetization.

Scientific research is not an area that I’m proficient in. Generally speaking, I don’t understand how business and science organizations work in tandem to produce results. But DeSci seems to be solving issues that are present in the current science-business model.

If you’re familiar with these scientific fields, then I’d love to connect with you to understand what the current pain points are in that industry. And ultimately discuss if the decentralized model could actually make an impact here.

We talk about this concept in greater detail in Episode 25 of the NFT QT Show – 6 Ideas that Will Influence the Future of NFTs –  which you can watch here: https://youtu.be/bBPOJbyDErw