Laurence Ion & Vincent Weisser: Vita DAO – From DeSci to Longevity Research #488

Scientific research & publishing are gruelling tasks that extend outside the scope of science itself. Centralised publications abound in archaic practices that span from submitting a paper to getting it peer-reviewed and finally published, process which may take even up to years. In addition, research requires funding from very early stages of pursuing an idea, all the way to its finality (i.e. clinical trial or real-life applications). In TradSci (traditional science), funding is usually obtained once progress has already been achieved or when a startup has been formed.

DeSci (decentralised science) sets out to change this paradigm by funding early stage research via DAOs. When it comes to scientific publications, peer reviewing is also decentralised and incentivised, considerably speeding up the process. Moreover, contributions can be clearly retraced, avoiding false claims over IP, and the research itself becomes much more easily accessible and disseminated.

We were joined by Vincent Weisser & Laurence Ion, stewards of Vita DAO, to discuss the advantages of DeSci in general, and the progress of longevity research in particular.

Topics discussed in this episode:
00:00 - Introduction
01:46 - Vincent’s background and his interest in longevity
12:24 - Laurence’s background and his interest in biotech
17:40 - The purpose of DeSci
29:19 - Which science branch is better suited for DeSci
37:10 - How DeSci fixes contribution acknowledgement & contribution acknowledgement
41:51 - From research idea to startup via DeSci funding
46:09 - $VITA token utility
49:04 - Accelerating scientific publishing via DeSci
58:43 - How IP is attributed in a DeSci setting
1:05:42 - Project review and governance in Vita DAO

Links mentioned in this episode: