Molecule Ecosystem, July 2023
New IP-NFTs on the block, IP Tokens, LK-99, HairDAO Raises $2,96m and DeSci.Berlin Tickets Selling Fast!
This month, we’re looking at three IP-NFTs (either minted or to be minted) by different BioDAOs. What does this mean? Simply, scientific research has been funded effortlessly, fast, and on-chain with Molecule’s tech infrastructure (the IP-NFT) across three different fields: women’s fertility, synthetic biology, and longevity.
August IP-NFT Spotlight
We would like to highlight three IP-NFTs this month, but before we touch on those and for those who are new, lets first dive into what it means to mint an IP-NFT:
By opting to mint an IP-NFT on mint.molecule.to Biotech DAOs (BioDAOs), such as AthenaDAO, ValleyDAO, and VitaDAO in this example, use Molecule’s IP-NFT framework to fund research in their different fields. By doing this, they are able to bind the intellectual property, underlying data, and economics into one programmable, transactable, digital unit - the IP-NFT.
What happens after an IP-NFT has been minted
IP tokens (IPTs) can be minted from the parent IP-NFT. This is the natural next step in decentralizing drug development, allowing individuals (and potentially patients) to directly interact with, and govern the IP created by researchers. A recent example is VITA-FAST. Below is an illustration of how IP-NFTs become IPTs.
The IP-NFTs minted or to be minted soon: AthenaDAO, ValleyDAO, and VitaDAO
In the past two weeks, two IP-NFTs have been minted, with a third following soon.
Fun facts:
ValleyDAO became the first DAO to mint an IP-NFT in a non-therapeutic area (they are tackling SynBio).
AthenaDAO became the first DAO to mint an IP-NFT on an iPad!📲
Here’s an overview of these 3 IP-NFTs:
Tune in to ValleyDAO’s first IP-NFT minting ceremony this Friday here.
Learn more about VitaDAO’s latest IP-NFT proposal on Snapshot here.
Watch AthenaDAO’s First Minting Ceremony below:
BioDAO Spotlight: HairDAO raises $2,96m 🎉
Congratulations to HairDAO on closing their seed round, raising $2,96m, and bringing their treasury to over $3.3m. With this raise, HairDAO nearly doubled the global annual funding available for for hair loss research.
Join us at DeSci.Berlin x Funding the Commons | 8-9 September 2023
Join us for this year’s DeSci.Berlin (un)conference, in partnership with Funding the Commons!
All the links you need:
Secure your spot and get a ticket to the 2-day event here.
Apply to be a speaker/workshop presenter here.
The first ten readers of this newsletter can use the code MOLECULE_NEWSLETTER to get 50% off!
Other DeSci conferences to look forward to:
🇹🇷 Desci Boston: 21 October 2023
🇺🇸 DeSci at Lab Week & Devconnect Istanbul: 13 - 19 November 2023
Molecule of the Month
Our July Molecule of the Month is a rather special one; AOH1996. The small molecule has a unique mode of action that makes it selective for tumor cells in the body; indicating a promising chemotherapy treatment for cancer patients.
Cancer cells are known to have wildly uncontrolled proliferation, meaning that DNA replication occurs frequently and furiously. This uncontrolled replication has become a target for many chemotherapy drugs - however, there is a fine line that needs to be walked, as cellular replication is necessary for life and thus can’t be hindered too intensely. The solution has classically been to only target fast-replicating cells, which is why hair loss is often associated with cancer treatments (our hair cells replicate rapidly, and thus fall victim to chemotherapy treatments). However, this approach is not without its pitfalls, often leaving patients with lasting health impediments.
A paper released on the 1st of August has a different approach; find a small molecule that only targets tumor cells - and it appears they have been successful! AOH1996 is able to selectively target cancer-associated proliferating cell nuclear antigen (caPCNA). The protein is essential in DNA functioning, acting as the glue between a DNA strand and other proteins that are necessary for DNA replication and transcription. When AOH1996 binds with caPCNA, it prevents protein transcription, hindering the cell's proliferation. This selective targeting of caPCNA means that a potential treatment can be derived that won’t be as harmful to the rest of the body.
The paper went on to show promising toxicity studies in animal models, no discernible side effects, and an orally administrable and metabolically stable formulation. At the time of publishing, they had already entered Phase I human trials. We look forward to seeing their future results!
The Superconductor Saga
If you’ve been on X (Twitter) recently, you’ll have seen the LK-99 Room-Temperature Superconductor Saga. We thought we’d give you a little breakdown.
Superconductors are materials that offer no resistance to the flow of electricity, meaning that the charge flowing through the material is completely conserved. This is incredibly rare - almost all materials have some level of ‘cost’ as electricity travels through them. The few superconductors that have been discovered in the past only exist at freezing temperatures or very high pressures - meaning completely impractical to use in daily life. If a material was discovered, that was superconductive at room temperature, the world would be revolutionized. Power storage and transport issues would simply cease to exist. It's a pretty big deal.
So, when three obscure South Korean physicists recently announced that they’d identified a room-temperature superconductor, LK-99, the internet exploded. When a claim like that is made, the first step is for other labs to perform the same experiments, in order to validate the results. Traditionally, this is a months-long process that happens behind closed doors, but in this case, we’ve truly seen the power of decentralized and open science. Across the world laboratories, researchers, and backyard scientists began the replication process. People are sharing their findings and mishaps on Twitter, experts are weighing in in real-time, and there is an air of hope as across continents, people rally together to hopefully capture the ever-elusive room-temperature superconductor. Technology is allowing science to open up. We’re watching scientific progress happen in record time and with complete transparency.
Do we think they’ll find it? We don’t know! But, what we do know is that this is a fantastic real-world use case of decentralized science. The hypothesis is being confirmed; decentralization can and will work, if we are all brave enough to shed the shackles of tradition.
If you’re a hopeful superconductor hunter yourself, check out DeSciWorld’s Superconductor Collective - a coordination layer for anyone that wants to further the research surrounding room temperature/pressure semiconductors.
DeSci Paris & EthCC Recap 🇫🇷
DeSci Paris returned to Paris last month and LabDAO, together with Foresight Institute and The French National Centre for Scientific Research (CNRS) hosted two full days of talks and workshops. We were excited to see that collaboration in DeSci is growing rapidly with each new DeSci Conference we attend! During the two days, participants gained insights into tech trees, knowledge graphs, new product demos, DeSci ethics and a variety of new and exciting projects pushing the boundaries of how science is done.
We hosted a few smaller events and gave a talk at the main EthCC, watch the recording below:
Molecule is hiring!
We are currently hiring for the following positions, and more to come:
Senior FE Engineer - Remote
Director - Business Development & New Ventures - US/Remote
Tokenomics Lead - Berlin/Europe/Remote
To learn more about these positions, visit our careers page here.
New hires receive all required equipment, a competitive compensation package, and a pfp NFT of their choice, in line with our policy. Should you wish to apply, discuss any of the positions or refer someone, please feel free to reach out to Ézanne at ezanne@molecule.to.
Thanks for Reading!
If you enjoyed this read, subscribe to our newsletter and stay updated as the ecosystem grows. Please reach out to us with any questions or ideas, visit our website, or join our Discord to interact directly with our team. We’re really looking forward to joining forces with our community to create a world where patients directly fund researchers developing the next therapeutic breakthrough they need and building an open, inclusive, and collaborative ecosystem.
As we continue to work towards a different era of drug discovery, our focus for this year is to incubate and launch more BioDAOs, fund more IP-NFTs, synthesize more IP Tokens (IPTs), and continue to connect web3 to the real world!