The VitaDAO community quickly got to work after watching the ball drop. In this January edition of the VitaDAO Newsletter, you can learn about VitaDAO proposals that passed over the last month, get to know DAO rockstar Alex Dobrin, and more!
New Year, new you? What we can say with confidence is — New Year, same fantastic VitaDAO. Decentralization of science is taking off and VitaDAO is here to fund more science and spread good vibes while doing so 🥳. We knew we were reaching the masses when John Cena followed our Twitter (as of now, this isn’t a joke). As we roundup the VitaDAO 2021 and highlight some upcoming events, remember to Join the Discord and hop into one of our orientation “Ask Me Anything” calls. You can find links to the Discourse, Discord, and Twitter here.
Community News
2021 was an incredible year for VitaDAO filled with milestones, exciting developments within the longevity space, and vibrant growth within the community. Below is a summary of notable events that happened in the community during 2021, notable Governance measures, and impactful discussions going on right now!
2021 in Review
It is hard to believe VitaDAO’s Gnosis auction ended just over six months ago on June 23, 2021. In the months since then, our community has been growing and gaining traction and recognition within the crypto community. As of January 2022, VitaDAO has:
- Funded 2 IP-NFTs
- Evaluated 35+ Research Projects evaluated
- Communicated with over 150 researchers/ potential projects
- Funded $1.5 million worth of longevity research!!
- 4000+ Discord Members
- 8 Very Active Working Groups
- 80+ Working Group Contributors
- Published 17 Medium Articles
- Published 31 Youtube Videos
- Gained over 9000 Followers on Twitter
VitaDAO is always looking for new cutting-edge longevity research projects to fund. In fact, we have a bounty out until February 15 for 500 U.S. dollars or 500 VITA for each relevant project you introduce us to! Click here to submit a project for consideration.
Voting is now LIVE on Snapshot
In great addition to our current system, Tier 3 Governance has moved to Snapshot, making voting completely gasless aka FREE🤑. This will encourage more participation among $VITA holders and reduce the friction associated with voting. If you want to vote, make sure you un-stake your $VITA! Click here to vote.
Note: this doesn’t replace our current Tier 1 and Tier 2 governance. Tier 1 and Tier 2 will still occur on Discord and Discourse, respectively.
VitaDAO Liquidity Pools on L2
On the topic of gas fees, there will now be VitaDAO Liquidity Pools on L2! We are starting with bridges to Polygon and GnosisChain, the most used L2s. In the future, we may potentially expand to Arbitrum, Fantom, Optimism, Zksync, and others. This will allow for cheaper ways to participate in VITA and its governance. Be on the lookout for announcements coming up about this, and links to swaps! Check out VDP-20 for more info!
Additional 10% Token Mint for Aligned Partners
The passing of VDP-11 allows VitaDAO to mint an additional 10% of tokens for treasury and strategic contributors. VitaDAO has been approached by many biotech and web3 entities who have previously been unable to purchase VITA on DEXs at the volume they’d require. By growing the DAO treasury, we will be able to include these entities who can bring value to VitaDAO. Check out the results on VDP-11 here.
Now that we’ve decided to mint more tokens, what happens next? Follow the continued discussions on VDP-11 here.
New Steward Onboarding/Offboarding Process Approved
Working groups are the backbone of VitaDAO. They work behind the scenes to make the DAO as best as it can be (not that it’s not already great☺). Each working group is led by one or two stewards. We haven’t previously formalized the process of onboarding one… until now!!!
Now, a steward is nominated by another steward and is voted in by working group members. When a steward’s time is done, there are a few ways a steward can be offboarded. They can choose to leave with a two weeks notice or the community can vote for a change of leadership.
Check out the results of VDP-19 here.
Introducing the VitaDAO Fellowship!
VitaDAO is funding individuals with need-based grants to enable one to dive deeper in longevity (amounts starting from $100 to $3k). The grants can fund your research, allow you to take a break to explore longevity, attend a conference, or join a program like On Deck Longevity. To learn more, and apply, check our website here.
The fellowship is funded by generous donors from our Gitcoin project “Longevity Fellowship Grants” and matched by Vitalik Buterin.
We have open roles!
Are you an organized and dynamic person, who is interested in web3 x bio, and looking to get more involved in VitaDAO? Then one of these positions might be right for you! As someone involved with VitaDAO, you will have the chance to interact with members across all of the working groups of the DAO, and most importantly, inject good vibes into the DAO. Check out the links below for more information on specific open positions:
- Operations Champion
- Community and Alignment Manager
- Twitter and Social Media Growth Lead
Panel Discussion: On the Quest to Quantify Biological Age
Check out the video below to learn more about biomarkers in January’s panel discussion “On the Quest to Quantify Biological Age” with speakers Dr. Morgan Levine, Nikolina Lauc, Dr. Joris Deleen, and host Max Unfried.
Voting Matters
Part of the strength held by the DAO model is the right of community members to vote in governance. In this section, you’ll find a rundown of notable Governance protocols that are active in the VitaDAO community. Remember, initial voting takes place on our Discourse forum before going on-chain via Snapshot!
VDP-21: Discovery of Novel Mitophagy Activators
The accumulation of damaged mitochondria, a result of compromised mitophagy, is a hallmark of aging and age-related neurodegeneration. Upregulating mitophagy could improve brain health, healthspan, and lifespan.
The lab has identified a robust mitophagy inducer that also overrides a central feature of Alzheimer’s pathology. The project will aim to validate the observed healthspan and memory improvements in mice and will be investigating the underlying molecular mechanisms.
The DAO would purchase all of the IP of the data and background IP related to the project, and is estimating that we can submit the IP for patenting before the end of 2022. The total cost of the project would be between $500k — $650k.
Cast your vote for VDP-21 here
The DeSci Revolution
The intersection of web3 and science is revolutionary. Decentralization takes the power from the few to the many. VitaDAO is a prime example of this. By allowing the community to vote on research projects to fund, we are now able to support more creative and ambitious projects that wouldn’t have otherwise been funded. It also brings together people from a variety of backgrounds and disciplines to work on amazing projects instead of being siloed into various labs. Want to learn more about DeSci, check out this thread that I (Hossam) wrote about it.
Community Member Highlight: Alex Dobrin
How did you first get involved with the VitaDAO community?
I entered an onboarding call in May 2021 after I did not hear back on my application for the Awareness Working Group. Not long after that, I started helping the awareness efforts, coming up with ideas, and executing them, including editing and distributing a press release for the genesis auction. The rest is history.
Have you always been interested in longevity research?
Ever since I was a child I was fascinated by the idea of life extension and immortality, but I did not know what to do about it. A few years ago, when I became financially free I thought about what’s meaningful in life and I decided to change my career and figure out how to best get involved in longevity.
Can you walk me through what your role inside of VitaDAO entails?
I lead the community building and social media efforts, support the working groups with operations and do whatever needs to be done.
There is no precedent for how a community like VitaDAO functions. What has surprised you most?
The fact that we can actually get stuff done without a hierarchy and the huge number of people that want to get involved every day to help the future of longevity.
What excites you most about VitaDAO’s future?
Turning a lot of early-stage aging research projects into startups that can advance longevity therapeutics to market.
Any closing thoughts for readers?
Think you can’t help the longevity field? There’s something to do for everyone. Join our community and you’ll see.
VitaDAO in the Wild
Many core members of the DAO were featured on the Idea Machine Podcast! Listen to it or watch a recording of it.
Our friends at Messari Crypto also wrote a Twitter thread and article about us! Another great summary of VitaDAO’s role in revolutionizing the longevity research industry.
Upcoming Events
February 2nd at 9 PM CET (Recurring Every Wednesday) — Swing by a VitaDAO onboarding session on Discord with Niklas Rindtorff and Alex Dobrin. Join the VitaDAO Discord Server to learn more about the DAO, how to get involved, and have any lingering questions answered.
February 13th at 2 PM CET — VitaDAO Game Night on @gather_town. Pop by to meet some fellow longevity enthusiasts. Click here to come to Game Night.
We know you didn’t think we could top the last newsletter. Well, we tried our best… Show some love and forward this newsletter to some of your friends (so that they keep letting us write these every month🙏)!
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