Molecule Ecosystem, June 2024
Catalyst's impending launch, VITARNA Sale, bio/acc & DeSci Berlin Meet-Up, and much more!
Get Ready: Catalyst Beta Launch is Just Around the Corner!
Molecule pioneered tokenized IP. It's time to set the IP flywheel in motion.
Introducing Catalyst, the decentralized science liquidity machine. Catalyst speeds scientific progress by allowing individuals to directly fund research ideas in exchange for tokens, giving them IP rights, aligning incentives between researchers and funders. By democratizing funding and making IP, an otherwise illiquid asset, tradable, Catalyst enhances accessibility and efficiency in early-stage research funding, accelerating innovation.
The Catalyst beta launch is imminent. Sign up for insider updates.
VitaDAO’s Successful VITARNA Sale
VitaDAO successfully raised $300,000 through the tokenization of the Artan Bio IP-NFT. The token, VITARNA, is VitaDAO’s second IPT (Intellectual Property Token) launch and directly supports Artan Bio’s mission to develop new gene therapies that could help address aging-related genetic mutations.
This is yet another incredible success for IP-NFTs and IPTs and a testament to the real-world impact of Molecule technology and bioDAOs on funding innovative scientific research. Beyond funding research projects like Artan Bio, IPTs enable community governance, allowing token holders to share in the project's success and steward decisions that impact the IP-NFT. By democratizing access to scientific research through IP-NFTs and IPTs, Molecule is enabling a more transparent and equitable scientific ecosystem.
Read the full announcement from VitaDAO regarding VITARNA here. To learn more about IP-NFTs and IPTs, check out: https://docs.molecule.to/documentation.
bio/acc & DeSci Berlin Meetup
Last week, the DeSci community gathered at the DeSci Church in Berlin for a bio/acc meet-up to discuss the future of biotech and scientific research, share innovative ideas, and foster deeper connections with those building in DeSci. It’s a very special time for DeSci as we get to host some of the leading voices in Web3 and science and dream up a better future for scientific research and accelerated innovation.
Speaking of DeSci Berlin, don’t forget to catch up on last month’s DeSci.Berlin recap, where we highlighted some of our favorite speakers from this year’s event!
Viktor Korolchuk’s Research Published in Dev Cell, a Leading Cell and Developmental Biology Journal
We want to take a moment to congratulate Viktor Korolchuk on his latest published work in Dev Cell. Viktor is one of the researchers that has received funding through Molecule’s IP primitives; you may recognize his name from the VITA-FAST IPTs. The paper in question is an exciting study on how decreased mitophagy leads to aging-related cellular changes and how this can be reversed through a p62-targeting small molecule. This research highlights the potential for developing therapeutic strategies to combat aging and related diseases.
It is incredibly exciting to see the success of VitaDAO’s first IPT and the results that Viktor and his team were able to produce with support from the DeSci community. You can find Molecule in the paper’s acknowledgements.
To learn more about Viktor’s project and the VITA-FAST IPT, visit https://www.vitadao.com/projects/korolchuk-lab.
Vitalia’s Accelerate & Live Forever Summer Program
📍When?
July 1 - 31, 2024. You can attend for the whole month, a week, or a few days.
📍 Where?
Vitalia City, Roatán, Honduras - Beta District
📍 What is it about?
Vitalia is a city that focuses on accelerating the progress of life extension technologies.
This summer program bundles two deep-dive summits and sprint sessions to prepare startups for an investor demo day — while living a longevity lifestyle protocol with a vibrant community! The program includes:
Acceleration sprints for biotech and frontier tech startups to get pitch-ready for Investor Demo Day.
3 main events: bio/acc Summit, Human Augmentation Week, and Investor Demo Day.
Day-to-day Longevity-Like Lifestyle Protocol, including fitness, wellness, mindfulness activities, productivity sessions, community events, and island exploration.
Between conversations, workshops, and community activities, you can immerse into biohacking, cybernetics, implants, governance, techno-optimism, e/acc, network state, decentralized science, biotechnology, genetic engineering, and more!
➡️ Sign Up Here: vitalia.city/summer-program-bundle
BoostVC to Acquire $250k worth of Cerebrum DAO’s $NEURON
In another huge vote of confidence for DeSci from institutional capital, BoostVC has agreed to acquire $250k worth of $NEURON to support Cerebrum DAO’s new product working group. The token acquisition was proposed in Cerebrum DAO’s “CDP-6 OTC Funding and Liquidity Support with BoostVC” and passed with 100% approval from community members. The official announcement in Cerebrum DAO’s Discord said:
“BoostVC, a prominent venture capital firm with $200M AUM, will acquire $250,000 worth of NEURON at an 18% discount, with a 3-year lockup period. This agreement brings $250,000 of additional capital to support our Product Working Group and Community Product initiatives. Moreover, BoostVC will purchase more NEURON on the open market, aiding in liquidity.
The BoostVC investment is another major milestone for DeSci and signals the growing confidence that institutional investors have in the potential of bioDAOs. DeSci is becoming a major talking point in the TradSci space and continues to prove itself as a valuable tool for pharma and research organizations. In early 2023, VitaDAO closed a $4.1M funding round with Pfizer Ventures to fund longevity research.
Outside of investment, bioDAOs have gained the attention of prominent researchers. A recent Nature article highlighted the potential of DAOs for funding and development in the life sciences. With features in one of the largest academic journals in the world, DeSci is proving itself to be a powerful use of blockchain and decentralized models for the scientific industry.
Two New Nucleate x Molecule Venture Fellow Graduates
The second round of Molecule X Nucleate Fellows graduated from DeSci Bootcamp last month and are already preparing new scientific projects for Molecule’s Catalyst beta launch.
Sakina Amin is pursuing a PhD in Biochemistry at Oxford University, exploring longevity and immune resilience in cancer and aging across exceptional survivors. Sakina’s affinity for entrepreneurship and pre-existing ecosystem knowledge made her stand out to us, and we’re looking forward to supporting her growth in DeSci.
Aidin Kazemizadeh is a PhD student at King’s College London, researching CRISPR technologies and their off-target effects. Aidin’s fascination with the intellectual property in the science and biotech landscape is rare, and will undoubtedly be highly valuable in the context of Molecule.
Learn more about the Molecule X Nucleate partnership here.
Dr. Sönke Bartling on the DeSci Podcast
Molecule recently had Dr Sönke Bartling on the DeSci Podcast. Dr. Bartling is a leader in science communication and open science and a trailblazer in using blockchain technology to decentralize scientific research. He most notably founded Blockchain for Science and published the first full-blown paper around the potential of blockchain for research and innovation in 2016.
In this episode, we dive into the technological and cultural impact that DeSci can have on the scientific process, the challenges of traditional publishing houses adopting blockchain, and how DeSci can introduce new incentives for a more efficient and innovative research process. Listen to the entire episode here.
Thanks for Reading!
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