Molecule Ecosystem, Recapping DeSci in 2023
2023: The Year DeSci Captured the World's Imagination, JPM Health & Casgevy FDA Approval
2023 DeSci Recap
Decentralized science (DeSci) is quickly emerging to claim a spot in the mainstream narrative, and it's reshaping our conventional approach to scientific research and funding. With industry leaders like Brian Armstrong and Changpeng Zhao (“CZ”) expressing interest in this emerging field, we have a clear signal that a substantial shift is underway. This is exactly what happened towards the end of 2023 when CZ tweeted that he’s “been reading about biotech, thinking about how to use crypto to accelerate research funding...” In addition to that, Brian Armstrong added a DeSci project (ResearchHub) to his Twitter (X) bio, which also sparked a DeSci frenzy. I believe this may have been the catalyst for Coingecko to add an official DeSci category shortly after, following a similar community-led DeSci watchlist on Coinmarketcap earlier in the year.
Vitalik & Balaji have also expressed their interest in DeSci a couple of times (see here and here) and the more heavyweights signal their interest in funding and decentralizing science, the more mainstream media and institutions take note. Another one is Ryan Selkis, CEO of major analytics firm Messari. His annual report ‘Key Trends, People, Companies and Projects to Watch’, with Predictions for 2024 mentions DeSci as an area less driven by rampant speculation and critical to the blockchain industry well beyond finance. He also goes on to say that it’s a market where crypto incentives make sense and that “trust in our scientific establishment may be at all-time lows, and the current system is riddled with bureaucratic inefficiencies, poor data methodologies, and poor incentive schemes (peer-reviewed papers that lead to tenure), whereas crypto has already demonstrated a proven ability to fund…science experiments!”
See Ryan’s full thesis for 2024 here. Also see Messari’s DeSci specific report from earlier in 2023.
Setting the tone Messari’s 2024 thesis, an important discussion took place in Massachusetts, at MIT. In the closing talk of DeSci Boston, James Sinka highlighted the key themes of the year. Watch it here.
Here are just some of the things James mentioned of what a year it's been in DeSci:
Remarkable progress in the space in recent years, highlighted by a record attendance at DeSci.Berlin. (Watch all the talks from DeSci.Berlin 2023 here!)
Pfizer Ventures became active in the space, with one of its members becoming a leader in a DeSci organization.
Record funding for new projects, including unexpected millions raised by HairDAO for hair loss solutions.
The journal 'Nature' acknowledged DeSci twice last year.
Balaji mentioned DeSci, Molecule and VitaDAO to his million followers on Lex Fridman's podcast.
He went on to mention some scientific breakthroughs as well. To watch the full talk, click here.
AI and Biotech
The role of Artificial Intelligence (AI) in biotech is also becoming more prominent, with companies like Nvidia leading the way. In a recent talk, Nvidia’s CEO, Jensen Huang, spoke about how AI is integral to the upcoming surge in biotech and digital biology. He described a shift where biology evolves from a pure science to a more engineering-focused discipline. This transition, he suggests, will bring about faster advancements and build upon the existing body of research. Huang highlighted Nvidia's role in this evolution, particularly in decoding the complexities of biology and chemistry with AI, and merging these insights with computer science. His vision is in line with Molecule’s mission of blending science and technology and my prediction is that the first fully AI driven drug discovery DAO will emerge in 2024. Just last month, scientists discovered the first new antibiotics in over 60 years using AI. So basically, watch out for a potential biotech BOOM, fuelled by AI.💥
Important Events in January
DeSci Meetup Berlin
We’re hosting a DeSci Meetup on January 25th at our new office in Berlin. We’ll have the core teams of VitaDAO, ValleyDAO, AthenaDAO, CerebrumDAO, Synapse with us - and free pizza!
RSVP here: https://lu.ma/BerlinDeSciMeetup
JPM Health
Molecule is super excited to be in San Francisco at the JPM Health Conference this year, an incredible event in the healthcare world, bringing together top minds. JPM Health is a hub for professionals across the healthcare spectrum, including pharma executives, biotech entrepreneurs, investors, and healthcare providers. We're hosting a meetup at the Fifty Years HQ during the conference and our Founder, Paul Kohlhaas will be there to talk about science, tech, IP-NFTs, IPTs, and all things future-forward in health. Limited spots available, so sign up while they last: https://lu.ma/01eg8x8i
CryoDAO Raises 342 ETH
Congratulations to CryoDAO who (so far) raised 346 ETH, currently valued at ±$786,420, in an ongoing Juicebox round. CryoDAO is one of 5 DAOs that were included in the bio.xyz accelerator’s first cohort. The funding period closes January 15th. Check out their tokenomics proposal on Snapshot here. To stay up to date and see what Cryopreservation is all about, follow them on X here.
Taipei Blockchain Week
Asia has a significant role to play in the globalization and decentralization of science. This is why we were excited to sponsor and attend Sora Summit and Taipei Blockchain Week at the end of 2023.
To promote Decentralized Science in Asia, Molecule is offering a $50,000 grant via an IP-NFT and we are inviting individuals and teams to apply or share with their networks. More details as well as the application form can be found here.
During this period, we spoke alongside Coinbase and ResearchHub’s Brian Armstrong, who had the following to say:
"There's some really amazing figures [numbers, charts] in science that a lot of people would probably want to mint and own as NFTs."
Check out a part of his talk here.
Molecule also held a DeSci Meets Fertility meetup with AthenaDAO, and learned about fertility windows, what doctors don’t tell you, and where reproductive health technologies are at. Another highlight for us was the DeSci Collider Taipei - The DeSci Collider mini-summit brought together innovators in deep tech development from post quantum cryptography, open hacking for digital civics, novel science funding (that’s us!), and intelligent coordination for research.
We’re Launching Something New
We would like to offer our newsletter readers access to our upcoming beta release of something in the making. If you’re a scientist or have a strong scientific background, head over to this form. What we’re launching could help researchers and fund science on a large scale. We’re excited to share this with the world in the coming months. Curious? Talk to us.
Synapse is Hiring
Synapse, part of the bio.xyz ecosystem, is seeking a core team member to lead and build a community that accelerates scientific discoveries into medical treatments. For more details, visit this page.
Molecule of the Month
Three years ago the team of scientists that developed the revolutionary gene-editing technique CRISPR was awarded the Nobel Prize in Chemistry. Last month the U.K. became the first country to greenlight a CRISPR therapy that will be used to treat both sickle cell disease and beta-thalassemia, two inherited blood disorders resulting in abnormal hemoglobin. The FDA followed quickly, approving the drug on the 8th of December.
The drug, named Casgevy, has a unique mechanism of action enabled by CRISPR technology. The process begins by extracting a sample of the patient's stem cells. These cells are subsequently treated with Casgevy, a drug capable of precisely editing DNA strands thereby altering cell functionality. In this case, a small segment of DNA is removed which prevents the production of fetal hemoglobin. The treated stem cells are now able to produce this fetal hemoglobin, which is not afflicted with the same abnormalities as adult hemoglobin. Once modified, these cells are reintroduced into the patient's body, where they proliferate and give rise to new, healthy cells. Clinical trials showed exceptionally positive results; after a single treatment 93.5% of sickle cell patients were completely relieved of debilitating episodes of pain for at least one year, and 92.8% of beta-thalassemia patients did not need blood transfusions for a whole year.
More than just a revolutionary medication, Casgevy is setting the stage for a host of new gene therapies. There are plenty more CRISPR medications in the pipeline, ranging from diabetes to cancer, with the potential to cure patients. Once again, we are reminded that scientific ingenuity saves lives. It is not just our opportunity, but our solemn duty, to protect and nurture that ingenuity.
Molecule is Hiring!
We’re looking for two rockstars, a Head of Finance and a Head of Product! Email ezanne@molecule.to or reach out on Discord to @Ezanne to get in touch!
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, IP Tokens (IPTs), and continue to connect web3 to the real world - Let’s build!
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