Dear Vitalians, We are glad you are here!
Inside this month’s newsletter:
- Pfizer, L1 Digital and Shine Capital Contribution Proposals
- Passed VitaDAO Proposals
- Meet DAO Member: Hamza Qureshi
- Upcoming Events, including a 2nd VitaDAO Crypto meets Longevity Symposium
DAO News
ARDD 2022: Annual Aging Research and Drug Discovery Meeting
From August 29th to September 2nd, longevity industry leaders gathered in Copenhagen, Denmark for the 9th Annual ARDD Meeting. VitaDAO served as an event sponsor, helping to bring together researchers and investors from across the world to discuss advances in aging and drug discovery. Many VitaDAO contributors were present as both attendees and panel speakers at the event. Missed the event? You can find recordings of the Longevity Medicine workshops on ARDD’s Youtube.
VitaDAO Core Member and Dealflow Steward, Laurence Ion, spoke as part of the “Investing in Longevity Biotechnology” panel at AARD 2022.
Pfizer Ventures Application
Pfizer Ventures applied to VitaDAO's Institutional Genesis Raise, proposing to contribute $500,000 USD to VitaDAO and participate in the governance of VitaDAO using $VITA tokens. If selected, Pfizer Ventures plans to support VitaDAO beyond the capital contribution with access to deal flow, the ability to support incubation and commercialization efforts of the intellectual property (IP), and the ability to raise awareness for VitaDAO’s mission.
L1 Digital Application
L1 Digital applied to VitaDAO's Institutional Genesis Raise, proposing to contribute $500,000 USD to VitaDAO and participate in the governance of VitaDAO using $VITA tokens. If selected, L1 Digital plans to support VitaDAO beyond the capital contribution with on-chain and off-chain Market Makers to help improve the liquidity of $VITA, access to an extensive network of limited partnerships, assistance with token economic design, experience with dealflow, and support of VitaDAO’s inner initiatives.
Shine Capital Application
Shine Capital applied to VitaDAO's Institutional Genesis Raise, proposing to contribute $1,000,000 USD to VitaDAO and participate in the governance of VitaDAO using $VITA tokens. If selected, Shine Capital plans to support VitaDAO beyond the capital contribution by providing strategic guidance surrounding project selection, leveraging financial and business acuity to help build a durable contributor framework, and contributing a network of capital partners, contributors, and go-to-market partners.
VitaDAO Longevity Research Newsletter
Authors Maria Marinova and Rhys Anderson released an August VitaDAO Longevity Newsletter. Inside this newsletter, find longevity literature hot picks, read about longevity clinical trial updates, and meet Professor Matt Kaeberlein. This newsletter is a valuable resource for keeping up to date with longevity research happening around the globe!
Governance
VDP-54 Passed!
As a result of VDP-54, approximately 6% of the total VITA token supply will be allocated to new strategic contributors admitted as institutional members of VitaDAO. Through an Institutional Genesis Raise, VitaDAO aims to raise at least 4 million USD in mission-aligned funding by auctioning VITA to strategic contributors selected by the VitaDAO community. As part of the auction, an individual or entity can craft a proposal for VitaDAO to become a strategic contributor with a written application to the VitaDAO community. This addition of institutional members will extend VitaDAO’s reach, advance VitaDAO’s mission, and enable additional longevity research funding, deal flow, and community awareness!
VDP-53 Passed!
VDP-53 supports the Longevity Decentralized Review (TLDR), an on-demand service that funds peer review using funds from those who submit their research to be reviewed. TLDR aims to grow VitaDAO’s treasury, grow VitaDAO longevity knowledge, and augment VitaDAO’s longevity dealflow by creating a larger more decentralized community evaluating longevity research.
The main goal of TLDR is to enable researchers to have proof of their peer reviews such that they do not need to rely on journals for proof. VitaDAO is funding 20,000 $VITA tokens to pay out to reviewers.
Live on Discourse
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! This month, several new proposals were added to Discourse. Two are outlined below:
- VDP 55: VitaDAO <> AthenaDAO Partnership
VDP-55 proposes a “DAO2DAO relationship” between VitaDAO and AthenaDAO, a decentralized collective to fund women’s reproductive health research and drug discovery. This relationship would involve the exchange of 50k $VITA for either 3% of $Athena or 1.2x the monetary value in $ATHENA, once a token has been launched.
Community Member Highlight: Hamza Qureshi
How did you first get involved in web3?
I am not particularly enamored with how the employment contracts in general - and the non-compete clauses in particular - work, at least in North America. A typical non-compete clause basically prohibits the employee from engaging in any business, profession, or project activity that is in competition with the employer’s business, after the employment relationship ends. This clause is time and geography dependent, and in a number of cases, hard to enforce. I believe that everyone - if they can manage - should engage in side consulting projects, etc. all the time because this is good personal and professional exposure. There is usually a net positive for all parties involved at the end of the day. I joined the web3/DAO space because it allows this kind of cross-pollination more readily. The efficacy of the collaborative web3 work is yet to be determined, however.
Also, I heard people make money in web3.
What attracted you to VitaDAO?
After discovering NFTs, I scoured the space for projects that were embedding NFTs in spaces/industries that were going to be around in 5, 10, or more years. That is when I stumbled upon Molecule and found that VitaDAO was the best channel to get involved in the mission through. A lot has changed since then - for the better
What is your current role in VitaDAO?
Operations, Project Management, Onboarding and Community, a little bit of Governance. I get to see large swathes of the VitaDAO pipeline, which is exhilarating or exhausting depending on the day. I like to say VitaDAO is increasing lifespan but discord is decreasing lifespan, so we are back to square 1.
What does the future hold for VitaDAO?
VitaDAO is a risky but exciting experiment that is slowly gaining traction. What I cannot wait to see - like a lot of people in and outside the organization - is whether this experiment becomes financially self-sustaining at some point in the future. As VitaDAO is a trailblazer in the space, the answer to this question will probably affect the validity and optics of the entire DeSci industry. I am extremely optimistic about the future social impact of the organization regardless of the finances.
Any closing thoughts for readers?
I have asked biologists about this but haven't received a satisfactory answer. How 'decentralized' are organizations such as ant colonies and bee hives? How do biologists measure decentralization and what is considered optimal? If it is different in different contexts, why? I would invite the readers to think about this and let me know their thoughts.
Another thing to think about is decentralization in the context of psychology. When I am working with people - in a supposedly flat organization - with different skills, backgrounds, and perspectives, I naturally create hierarchies in my head. For instance, if there is an exceptional marketer in our midst, they become the head of the marketing department in my head. It turns out navigating life is not possible without such hierarchical structures in place. This makes me wonder if 100% decentralized organizations are really a good idea. Where is the sweet spot in this context?
VitaDAO in the Media
VitaDAO was featured in a Nature Biotechnology News Feature, “Decentralized investor communities gain traction in biotech”. In this exciting feature, learn about VitaDAO’s origin story and read about VitaDAO’s role in decentralizing research funding.
VitaDAO co-founder, Paul Kohlhaas, spoke on (DAO,DAO)’s Twitter Space about Decentralized Science.
In a Neo.Life article by Richard Sprague, read about VitaDAO’s role in disrupting science, as we know it.
Inside their biotech analysis, BowtiedBiotech touches on Pfizer's interest in VitaDAO.
Upcoming Events
September 14th at 1 PM EST- (Recurring Bi-Weekly on Wednesdays)- Join a VitaDAO onboarding session! Here, you can ask questions about VitaDAO, meet others interested in the DAO, and learn about VitaDAO’s working groups.
September 13th at 12 PM EST- Celebrate alongside VitaDAO and Molecule at VitaDAO’s fifth public IP-NFT Ceremony to commemorate the funding of the ApoptoSENS project.
October 20th- Join hosts Max Unfried and Eleanor Sheekey at VitaDAO’s second VitaDAO Crypto meets Longevity Symposium. The symposium will serve as a chance for scientists, blockchain experts, and longevity professionals from internationally recognized institutions to connect and speak about the intersection of longevity and the blockchain.
Thanks for Reading!
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