Dear Vitalians, happy DeSci-Summer!
Inside this month’s newsletter:
- Longevity Prize in collaboration with Foresight and Methuselah Foundation
- Multichain Voting
- VitaDAO’s Fourth IP-NFT Ceremony
- Upcoming Events
DAO News
Longevity Prize
The VitaDAO Longevity Prize is a collaboration with Foresight Institute and Methuselah Foundation to encourage novel approaches and breakthroughs in the realm of longevity research. One key challenge with current prize models is that academics and biotechs only perform experiments when they have funding secured. To combat this issue, our first round of prizes will be given out for hypothesis generation.
These hypotheses will be used to define the second round of larger prizes. The first prize, the “Hypothesis Prize”, will reward individuals who identify an under-appreciated or obscure area of longevity science. The first place proposal will win $20,000, with other submissions receiving prizes as decided by jury votes. All are welcome to apply! Watch a recording of the Opening Ceremony to meet the judges and learn more about the Longevity Prize!
POPR- Proof of Peer Review
A VitaDAO squad has started a peer-review service. While still early in its conception, they have been focused on creating a decentralized journal that focuses on providing peer-review for projects that need peer-review for publication or funding purposes.
As the “Uber of peer review,” this journal would build an ecosystem where individuals are compensated for peer review. On Discourse, VDP-53 further describes the intricacies of how VitaDAO would grow its treasury by taking in revenue from POPR, and how VitaDAO would grow longevity knowledge as a result of POPR. If you’re interested in joining the movement, head to VitaDAO’s Discord and join the conversation in the “Peer-Review-Journal” channel.
Meet the Vitalians
VitaDAO contributor Victoria Forest has been working on the series, “Meet the Vitalians”. It is composed of interviews picking the brains of core contributors & leadership.
This month's highlight: DAO contributor Sebastian Brunemeier. Head to Youtube to meet Sebastian Brunemeier, and listen to him talk about longevity, the Web3 space, and his experience as a member of VitaDAO’s community.
Vote with your VITA tokens on Gnosis Chain
Our tech team updated VitaDAO's Snapshot space so that you can now vote with your VITA tokens on Gnosis Chain using the multichain strategy module. Previously, you could only use your VITA token balance on Ethereum mainnet. This change will also allow expanding the voting process to other chains (Polygon, other L2s) in the future. Gnosis Chain, formerly known as xDai chain, is an Ethereum sidechain (L2) that is also known as the "DAO chain" due to its low transaction fees. Click here, for more information on how to acquire VITA on Gnosis Chain and for more information on how to bridge your tokens from Ethereum mainnet to Gnosis Chain. Once you have a VITA balance on Gnosis Chain, simply open VitaDAO’s Snapshot space, connect a MetaMask account, and Snapshot will automatically consider your token balance on both Gnosis Chain and Ethereum mainnet. Note, you can only vote with your token balance as of 12 hours before a proposal has opened for voting. If you acquire tokens during an ongoing vote, they are not counted towards your voting balance.
IP-NFT Transfer Ceremony
On August 2nd, VitaDAO hosted its fourth IP-NFT Transfer Ceremony 🎉. The ceremony celebrated the funding of Jonathan An’s research exploring geroscience-based treatments for periodontitis. Watch a recording of the IP-NFT Transfer Ceremony and learn more about the connection between periodontitis and longevity on VitaDAO’s Youtube channel!
Governance
VDP-52 Passed!
As a result of VDP-52, steward elections will be delayed until a consensus is reached between VDP-36 and VDP-51, with elections being held no later than September 15th. VDP-36 and VDP-51 are proposals written with the intent to improve upon the original steward election process outlined in VDP-19. This extra time allows for consensus to be reached within the VitaDAO community regarding which approach is most beneficial and widely desired within the VitaDAO community.
Live on Discourse
Find many proposals live on Discourse, VitaDAO’s governance hub for proposals before they are moved on-chain. These proposals are open for engagement, voting, questions, and conversation. Head over to Discourse to check out open governance proposals, peruse live funding proposals, and add to the conversation!
Community Member Highlight: Sarah Friday
How did you first get involved in web3?
In college, a friend introduced me to blockchain technology and smart contracts. After learning more about use cases for blockchain in healthcare and scientific research, I began to seek out communities and individuals at the forefront of decentralized science. VitaDAO, a community-owned collective funding early-stage longevity research, stood out. In December 2021, I connected with Niklas Rindtorff on Twitter and became a VitaDAO contributor shortly after!
What attracted you to VitaDAO?
After taking a course on the biology of aging in college, I fell down the longevity rabbit hole. I found that VitaDAO combined two of my side interests: research of lifespan expansion and the intersection of web3 and science.
Additionally, I was attracted to the community at VitaDAO. VitaDAO is comprised of a unique group of international researchers, longevity enthusiasts, and entrepreneurs. I appreciate that individuals involved in VitaDAO openly embrace change.
What is your role within VitaDAO?
I am a Communication and Awareness Working Group contributor. Since December 2021, I have helped author VitaDAO's monthly newsletter. More recently, I have also taken on the role of providing weekly updates in VitaDAO's Discord. I see myself as a newswoman, of sorts, as I help disseminate community announcements and recap past events.
What has surprised you most about VitaDAO?
The speed. VitaDAO's framework eliminates the traditional timeline associated with biotech funding. It has been amazing to see what can be accomplished and how quickly new ideas can be implemented when such highly motivated individuals are focused on a central goal.
VitaDAO in the Media
Molecule hosted its first-ever “DeSci Podcast.” The inaugural podcast focused on VitaDAO’s first year of existence. Listen to Tim Peterson, Laurence Ion, and Sebastian Brunemeier talk about the future of biotech.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-z76r78jqno
"The first decentralized community to fund real-world research. We focus on funding longevity research to create therapeutics that target aging”.
Forefront author Esha Bora wrote on DeSci movements and the future of scientific research and progress. In the piece, “The Decentralized Science Movement,” VitaDAO’s token-based ecosystem was highlighted!
When discussing the role of Web3 in the rise of DeSci, VitaDAO is mentioned in the Investor Times article “DeSci: the Web3-based science movement”.
Upcoming Events
August 17th at 7 PM CET-
(Recurring bi-weekly on Wednesdays)- Join a VitaDAO onboarding session! Here, you can ask questions about the DAO, meet others interested in the DAO, and find out more about VitaDAO’s working groups.
August 11th at 1 PM CET-
The NUS Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine, together with Professor Brian Kennedy and Professor Andrea Maier are proud to be hosting a Healthy Longevity webinar series. Tune into this virtual series on August 11th to listen to VitaDAO-funded Evandro Fang!
Aug 29th-Sept 2nd- Join the ARDD 9th Aging Research and Drug Discovery Meeting. VitaDAO is one of the many sponsors of this event, happening in Copenhagen, Denmark.
Thanks for Reading!
VitaDAO is defined by an active and diverse community of contributors. To learn more about the community, join our Discord and follow us on Twitter!
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