VitaDAO Letter: ’Tis the Season (Of Governance)
Inside this Newsletter:
- VitaDAO’s Transition to Seasonal Governance
- Should VitaDAO Form A Longevity Network State?
- Steward Election Results!
- Meet DAO Member: Gavin Singh
A Lot Has Happened Since the Last Newsletter!
Early this year, VitaDAO announced a $4.1 million fundraising round, that included strategic members and longevity enthusiasts such as Pfizer Ventures, Shine Capital, L1 Digital, Beaker DAO, Balaji Srinivasan, and Joe Betts-LaCroix. Since this announcement, VitaDAO has been busy! Inside this Newsletter, find a recap on some of the things that have been going DAOn.
DAO News
The Results are In!
Earlier this year, several changes were made to VitaDAO’s governance structure. Most notable was the condensation of VitaDAO’s prior working group structure into three working groups: Longevity Dealflow, Community and Awareness, and Coordination. Following this structural change, VitaDAO voted to elect stewards for each of the three working groups (VDP-78.1, VDP-78.2, VDP-78.3). Elections are held every six months, with future elections to be held in September 2023. Congratulations to VitaDAO’s newest facilitators:
- Longevity Dealflow Working Group Steward: Laurence Ion
- Community and Awareness Working Group Steward: Alex Dobrin
- Coordination Working Group Steward: Todd White
Creating A Longevity Network State?
From March 25th- May 25th, VitaDAO is partaking in a pop-up mini-city experiment in Montenegro. This experimental mini-city, taking place at a resort, will offer mini-conferences, co-working spaces, tracking of biological age, and group exercise- all with a longevity focus! There are inefficiencies within VitaDAO’s current jurisdiction. This experiment is VitaDAO’s first step in exploring the possibilities of a highly aligned community with the capacity for collective action. Interested in learning more? Dig into some of the interesting conversations about the future of network states and the importance of sovereignty taking place on VitaDAO’s #Vita-State Discord Channel. Explore Balaji’s Twitter insight into VitaDAO’s evolution towards a network state. TLDR, he says network states should:
- Start with 1–2 month experiments around the world
- Recruit curious people
- Make sure participant costs are reasonable
- Scale if effective
A New Initiative: The Aging Podcast
VitaDAO started a podcast, more specifically, “The Aging Science Podcast”! In the first episode, host Kamil Pabis talks with expert Alaattin Kaya about challenges in research funding and the replication crisis in aging research. Alaattin Kaya, a research investigator who recently started a lab at Virginia Commonwealth University, uses yeast as a model to study the basic mechanisms of aging. When asked about yeast as a model organism: “Of course, yeah, everybody loves yeast.” Listen to the first episode of The Aging Science Podcast to hear about recent breakthroughs in the field, the difficulties of funding risky research, and the importance of overexpression genetic screens in aging research. Read highlights from the podcast on VitaDAO’s blog!
Vita Governance
Approved: Brain Tissue Replacement Therapy
VDP-10 Passed! This proposal was an assessment of BE Corp, a spinout company out of Jean Hebert’s lab at Einstein College of Medicine. Jean Hebert is a leading expert on the subject of brain aging. He is working on engineering transplanted stem cells that can replace damaged brain tissue, of particular use in stroke patients. Senior reviews voiced that this proposal has robust experimental data, a strong founding team, and a reasonable timeline!
Tis the Season(al Governance)
The VitaDAO community voted to improve the governance process by “batching” governance into seasons, each season consisting of a Governance Phase and an Execution Phase. As a result, VitaDAO has now divided operations into seasons, with each season being 4 months long. We are excited to say that from February 20th to April 3, the VitaDAO community is starting its first round of seasonal governance. We are currently voting on goals, creating budgets, and forming project teams. The goals and objectives of Season 1 include increasing community size, increasing the number of token holders, accelerating research assets, and increasing researcher engagement.
To get started in VitaDAO’s Seasonal Governance, visit our discourse for an overview of the process, sign up for an account, and join the conversation! Want to learn more? Watch a recording of a Live Twitter Space hosted by Catthu, Todd White, and Gavin Singh.
Other initiatives within Season 1 include:
- Creation of an Ambassador Program: A proposal to create a collection of individuals to perform outreach on behalf of VitaDAO. This proposal outlines general criteria for ambassadors, ambassador reimbursement, and goals for ambassador events.
- Creation of a Commercialization Squad: A proposal to establish a Commercialization Squad within VitaDAO to directly increase token utility value and commercialize VitaDAO’s assets.
Live on VitaDAO’s Governance Forum — discuss and vote!
Find all of VitaDAO’s pending live proposals on Discourse, VitaDAO’s governance hub for proposals before they are moved on-chain. These proposals are open for engagement, voting, questions, and conversation! Below, read through summaries of two proposals currently on VitaDAO’s Discourse:
- VDP-87 [Assessment] Zoe Biosciences: This is an assessment of an early-stage therapeutic biotech that has two programs centered on targets that are well-validated both for longevity and aging-related diseases. The first program is PAI-1 biologic inhibitors with high target selectivity and affinity, relevant for diseases including elevated FGF23 syndromes and metabolic disorders. The second program is APJ small-molecule agonists for similar age-related indications.
- VDP-88 Creating VitaTech: This proposes the creation of VitaTech, a US-based for-profit company to license longevity technologies from US universities and research Institutions and, raise non-dilutive funding to develop commercialized assets.
Zuzalu — The first pop-up mini-city experiment 25March — 25May
We’re exploring evolving VitaDAO towards a Longevity Network State, and building a special jurisdiction for medical innovation with a better regulatory framework.
Advances in aging research are being translated into medicine, in clinical trials. We will dive into biotech to bring aging under medical control, and into medical innovation jurisdictions to enable better regulatory pathways for innovating in longevity therapeutics.
Join us to embark on a journey of meaningful dialogue and build lasting connections
If you would like to join the longevity events at Zuzalu, you can expect:
• workshops and initiatives to improve personal longevity
• engage in insightful discussion around biotech and medical innovation through the use of technology
• ideate around creating a new jurisdiction and regulatory environment to foster innovation
Apply to visit: https://vitadao.com/zuzalu
Meet Coordination Working Group Contributor: Gavin Singh
Gavin Singh is an active contributor to VitaDAO’s Coordination Working Group and Governance Squad. Since joining the DAO in August, he has worked to organize VitaDAO’s Discourse and is currently assisting in VitaDAO’s transition to seasonal governance. Outside of VitaDAO, Gavin graduated from McGill University in 2021 and has since worked in private equity as part of an impact-focused family office fund to build communities at several start-ups.
How did you first get involved in web3?
Surprisingly enough, it was my first venture in preventative healthcare right out of university. I was looking for ways to revolutionize the traditional healthcare system. This led me to web3 as it was the values behind the tech that made me realize the possibilities to empower people, not just patients, are endless. That sparked me to delve into DeSci, contribute to the Governance WG in VitaDAO, co-host events and spaces with VitaDAO, DeveloperDAO, and Gitcoin — and before you knew it, I was halfway across the world in Devcon Bogota assimilating with my tribe.
What attracted you to the VitaDAO community?
I was introduced to longevity at a young age. I remember watching a 90s Spider-Man TV series episode called “Neogenic Nightmare”. The villains were fighting over the ancient “tablet of time,” which promised a younger, stronger, and healthier life. To think that there was a community out there within the marriage of existing ideas around longevity and emerging tech with web3, just being a part of it was attractive enough and a dream come true alone.
Can you walk me through what role you have taken on in VitaDAO?
What got me to start to contribute was finding the rare Schelling point of all my passions combined — longevity, public goods, and meta-governance. The rest is history. I started by doing starter tasks like developing the VitaDAO constitution on our discourse forum and my continued involvement for more than half a year now eventually led me to take on the role of governance lead for the DAO.
Have you found that there are gaps in infrastructure and tooling that could enable the DeSci community?
The constant gap has always been onboarding the next billion. With DeSci, the battle against the disrupting the ancient structure of centralized science itself is hard to make researchers understand, as it seems almost alien to the pathways they’ve been led to know and experience. let alone, innovations in human coordination with meta-governance and DAOs. My goal is to bridge the gap with the rest of the community but more so in meta-governance tooling curated for academics as much as DeSci tooling as a whole. That is where my passion lies.
What has surprised you the most about VitaDAO?
The sheer passion within the contributors to empower everyone in our community regardless of their knowledge, background, and skills. I think that alone aside from our numbers went a long way in our recent fundraising round.
What excites you most about VitaDAO’s future?
I’m most excited about how long VitaDAO will be here. Not to take it for granted, but being in the midst of people that share my passions till the unforeseeable future feels like I’ve found my tribe. On the notion of longevity, VitaDAO’s future is an ever-extending one as we improve the lifespan of humans, our community, and the world.
Any closing thoughts for readers?
As a servant leader, my driven purpose of existence is to immortalize my ideas for the betterment of public goods. I’m a longevity and anti-aging enthusiast on a mission to attain optimal coordination with new paradigms in meta-governance and to revolutionize the world with unworldly regenerative innovations. I’d love to connect with anyone and everyone willing to see these goals flourish as much as I do. I’m most active on Twitter/Discord/Telegram: @consigli3re
Upcoming Events
The first pop-up mini-city experiment with longevity at heart — 25 March — 25 May — We’re exploring evolving VitaDAO towards a Longevity Network State, and building a special jurisdiction for medical innovation with a better regulatory framework. Apply to visit.
3rd VitaDAO DeSci & Longevity Symposium — April 5th — Sign up and learn to learn more about the science behind slowing down aging and the development of rejuvenation therapies.
VitaDAO @ Longevity Med Summit — May 4–5, 2023- Come join VitaDAO in sunny Lisbon, Portugal at the 2023 Longevity Med Summit. Here, join other longevity enthusiasts, in learning about the development of anti-aging science, the exploration of new regenerative and longevity therapeutics, and the limiting R&D challenges faced in therapy development.
Join Us!
Have a special skill set? Contribute to VitaDAO and receive $VITA in return. Join the VitaDAO community on Discord and stay up to date on Twitter! As of February, VitaDAO’s Discord is now token-gated, requiring a minimum of 10 $VITA to gain access to basic contributor channels.
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