By Xinwei

TL;DR

DeSci and the integration with Web3 and blockchain: DeSci combines blockchain technology to improve key aspects of scientific research, such as peer review, funding sponsorship, intellectual property management, and data transparency.

How DeSci impacts scientific research: DeSci is expected to enhance the transparency, efficiency, and democratization of scientific research while providing new opportunities to address global issues.

Challenges and future outlook: Challenges include improving the peer review mechanism, funding support, protecting data privacy, and increasing diversity participation while promoting the integration of DeSci with traditional scientific fields.

What is DeSci

The development of DeSci is closely tied to the rise of Web3 technologies, particularly blockchain technology. It represents a new approach to scientific research, centered on using blockchain technology to address some fundamental issues in traditional scientific research. The development of DeSci focuses on improving peer review, funding sponsorship, intellectual property management, and enhancing data transparency and scrutiny. These are all critical components of traditional scientific research processes.

Key features of DeSci include:

Peer review and publication processes: Traditional scientific publishing processes are managed by journals, which often involve lengthy peer review and editorial work. Blockchain technology, especially smart contracts, can be used to streamline this process. The establishment of decentralized communities and the introduction of reputation systems can enhance the efficiency and transparency of the process. For example, VitaDAO is an organization that applies blockchain technology in peer review and reputation systems.

Funding sponsorship: Traditional scientific funding models often involve lengthy application processes and are susceptible to biases from review panels. Blockchain technology offers an alternative that allows for direct funding of scientific research through crowdfunding. For instance, Molecule is a blockchain-based funding marketplace that connects patients, biotech companies, or investors with scientists, promoting the development of an open research market.

Intellectual property management: In the DeSci field, the introduction of intellectual property NFTs (IP-NFTs) enables researchers to share ownership of research projects and future outcomes. Molecule is a pioneer in this area, allowing scientists, biomedical researchers, and biotech companies to more easily secure funding and commercialize their work through IP-NFTs.

Data transparency and scrutiny: The application of blockchain technology also increases data transparency, allowing scientific research data to be stored and accessed in a decentralized environment. This helps break down data silos and fosters collaboration on projects and research.

The Impact and Prospects of DeSci

Simplifying industrial transformation: Due to the complex processes surrounding intellectual property ownership at universities or research institutions, the industrial transformation of academic achievements is often lengthy and complicated. DeSci provides new opportunities for the commercialization of academic results, simplifying this process. By building intellectual property NFTs and other innovative mechanisms, DeSci helps researchers more directly translate their scientific achievements into commercial products. Additionally, DeSci assists VCs in discovering "under the table" projects, which are those that are not yet widely known but have potential.

Breaking traditional boundaries: DeSci is not limited to the field of scientific research; its concepts and tools are equally applicable to art, humanities, and even indigenous knowledge systems. This interdisciplinary collaboration and knowledge sharing is one of the important features of DeSci.

Inspiring new forms of collaboration: Leveraging its decentralized nature, DeSci can promote collaboration on a global scale, especially for projects that require global environmental data and multidisciplinary input. In this way, DeSci is expected to address some of the most pressing global issues, such as climate change and public health crises.

Key Technologies and Applications of DeSci

Blockchain and smart contracts: Blockchain plays a central role in DeSci, particularly smart contracts. Smart contracts are automated snippets of code that can be used to automate various aspects of the scientific publishing process, such as peer review. These contracts ensure transparency and efficiency in the process while also reducing the time and costs associated with traditional publishing.

Decentralized peer review and publication processes: DeSci eliminates intermediaries in the traditional publishing process, such as journal coordination, through blockchain technology, thereby enhancing access to research outcomes and transparency. For example, Ants Review directly intervenes in the interaction between authors and reviewers through smart contracts, incentivizing peer review efficiency and quality with tokens.

Community fundraising for research: Blockchain technology is also used for crowdfunding, enabling scientists to connect directly with patients, biotech companies, or investors, driving the open research market. This funding model allows scientists to bypass traditional funding channels and receive support directly from the community. For instance, Molecule raises funds for scientific research, such as drug development, through NFTs and DAOs.

Intellectual property management: In DeSci, NFTs are used to manage and develop intellectual property, such as scientific data or articles. This makes the sharing and commercialization of intellectual property more efficient while also providing scientists and researchers with a new source of income. For example, Molecule uses IP-NFTs to share ownership of research projects and their future outcomes.

Data transparency and scrutiny: Data hosted on the blockchain increases the transparency of scientific research, allowing scientists to easily access and store relevant research databases, leading to more accurate research decisions. DeSci leverages a unique feature of blockchain technology—the "permanent web." This means that once data is uploaded to the blockchain, it is nearly impossible to delete or modify. This feature is particularly important for scientific research, as it ensures that scientific data and findings remain unchanged and accessible even in the face of political or social pressure. This is crucial for protecting the integrity of scientific research and combating censorship, ensuring the freedom and objectivity of scientific inquiry.

Decentralized research tools and publishing platforms: DeSci provides multifunctional decentralized platforms, such as DeSci Node and LabDAO, to support the research process, including seamless integration of reports, charts, code, and external APIs in various formats.

Establishing a reputation system: To build a high-quality and trustworthy DeSci community, platforms need to establish a comprehensive reputation system that tracks user interactions on decentralized platforms, such as likes, comments, and publications, helping to build credibility and expertise. Through blockchain, scientists' contributions—whether in peer review, sharing research data, or participating in professional training and mentoring—can be recorded and certified through the issuance of NFTs. These NFTs serve not only as direct evidence of scientists' contributions but also as a measure of their reputation in the scientific community. This system encourages scientists to participate in community building and knowledge sharing while providing a more objective and transparent way to evaluate and reward their work.

Academic social platforms: ResearchGate in web2 has raised over $100M. In web3, such platforms provide a new way for scientists, researchers, and other stakeholders to communicate and collaborate. Through these social platforms, scientists can share research findings, seek partners, and provide VCs with a channel to discover and invest in potential research projects.

DeSci Ecosystem Projects

Molecule

Molecule is a decentralized biotech research fundraising platform, currently with about 40 scientists seeking funding support for their projects. Molecule is inspired by the citizen science movement and the democratization of drug development, with its original idea stemming from patient communities aimed at advancing and funding early drug development. Molecule is built on Ethereum and includes two main systems: Molecule Discovery and Molecule Finance. These systems create an active ecosystem for decentralized modular drug development. Molecule employs a combined approach of smart contracts and legal contracts to form intellectual property NFTs (IP-NFTs), a new mechanism that allows anyone to share ownership of research projects and their future outcomes, such as intellectual property, royalties, and data. Molecule is not limited to the basic functions of its own website but has established a complete and extensive ecosystem that enables patient collectives and drug development DAOs to maintain, manage, and interact with real-world intellectual property.

Data Lake

Data Lake is an innovative medical data donation platform built using blockchain technology, aimed at supporting medical research and the development of artificial intelligence. It establishes a bridge through Polygon and its own token system ($LAKE), connecting patients willing to donate medical data with researchers in need of that data. The goal of this platform is to facilitate the discovery of disease treatments and new therapies, thereby improving healthcare services and patient outcomes.

Data Lake works by obtaining access to medical data from donors' healthcare providers, then anonymizing that data so it can be safely used by researchers. Additionally, the platform allows hospitals and data donors to share the economic returns generated from medical data, incentivizing more individuals and institutions to participate in the sharing of medical data. In this way, Data Lake protects individual privacy while promoting advancements in medical research.

GenomesDAO

GenomesDAO is a decentralized autonomous organization (DAO) focused on the monetization of genomic data. It combines the concepts of decentralized finance (DeFi) to ensure the security, privacy, and auditability of genomic data. Here are the main features of GenomesDAO:

Target audience: GenomesDAO serves individuals and organizations, providing individuals with whole genome sequencing services, personalized genomic reports, and secure personal DNA insurance storage. For organizations, it offers technical support to create secure, participant-owned genomic databases.

Research support: It provides researchers with access to high-quality genomic datasets, helping them understand disease causes and develop new drugs.

Token application: The GENE token is used to pay for whole genome sequencing services and serves as an incentive mechanism for querying their encrypted DNA data insurance repository.

GenomesDAO aims to promote the development of genomics research and innovation in new drugs while ensuring the protection of individual privacy. Through its platform, GenomesDAO transforms personal genetic data into valuable resources while ensuring data security and privacy are protected.

HairDAO

HairDAO is a decentralized organization dedicated to treating hair loss, adopting an open-source investment and operational model. It aims to advance research and development in hair loss treatment democratically and provide funding support for early-stage hair loss research and related companies.

Here are some features of HairDAO:

Diverse participation: HairDAO encourages individuals with various skills to join, whether technical skills or expertise in specific fields.

Incentive mechanism: Through its token $HAIR, HairDAO rewards those who contribute to solving hair loss issues. Users can earn $HAIR as a reward by uploading their anonymous, encrypted genomic data.

Cultural characteristics: While focused on scientific research, HairDAO showcases a light-hearted and humorous style on its website and Twitter, contrasting sharply with traditional research projects. Its content expression and design style are unconventional, even carrying a certain comedic quality reminiscent of silent films.

Meme quality: In the DeSci field, HairDAO stands out with its "hair loss" theme and light-hearted image, even using salon emoji symbols on Twitter, enhancing its characteristics as a meme coin.

VitaDAO

VitaDAO is a decentralized biotech DAO initiated by Molecule, leading in research and development in the field of longevity. As the world's first biotech DAO, VitaDAO's primary goal is to promote advancements in longevity research, extending human lifespan and healthspan.

Here are some core features of VitaDAO:

Community governance: VitaDAO is governed by community members holding $VITA tokens, focusing on funding early longevity research projects.

Funding projects: It has funded over 20 research projects, totaling more than $6 million, covering research on age-related diseases and the exploration of new therapies.

Research scope: Supported research projects include basic research and preclinical studies.

Voting rights for token holders: $VITA token holders participate in VitaDAO's decision-making process, including project funding selection, fund management, and governance activities.

To incentivize funding for early longevity biomedical research, VitaDAO combines innovative governance frameworks and financial tools, such as DAOs, NFTs, and AMMs. Operating on Ethereum, VitaDAO not only co-funds research but also digitizes research outcomes into IP NFTs. Tokens issued by VitaDAO can be earned by contributing work, funds, or other resources (such as data and IP) to VitaDAO. Members holding VITA can not only participate in the democratic governance of VitaDAO, guiding its research direction but also profit from its data repository and manage its intellectual property portfolio. This model promotes innovation and democratization in scientific research while providing community members with direct opportunities to participate in scientific decision-making and benefit from it.

ResearchHub

ResearchHub is a platform founded by Brian Armstrong, co-founder of Coinbase, aimed at changing the traditional model of scientific journal publishing. The platform recently completed a $5 million Series A funding round on June 15. ResearchHub creates a "Hub" system as an alternative to traditional journals, allowing scientists or scholars to publicly publish and discuss scientific or academic content directly within these hubs, bypassing the traditional publishing review process, accelerating the dissemination of information, and conducting peer review after publication.

User activities on ResearchHub can earn ResearchCoin (RSC) rewards, a cryptocurrency issued on the Ethereum platform for scientific research. RSC is designed to incentivize the scientific community to share, review, and curate information. Users can earn RSC rewards by:

Sharing PDFs of research papers (provided they do not infringe copyright)

Commenting and discussing scientific research

Conducting peer reviews of scientific papers

Receiving RSC tips from other users

Developing open-source features

Additionally, users can set RSC bounties for peer reviews, paper summaries, or new methods in the lab. They can also raise cryptocurrency to fund research by pre-registering projects in forum posts before research work begins. According to ResearchHub, activities on the platform have been steadily increasing over time, especially with peer review activities being the most active and promising.

Comparison of DeSci and Traditional Research Environments

The DeSci environment offers a more decentralized, transparent, and collaborative research environment, contrasting sharply with traditional, more centralized and closed-door research environments.

Challenges and Future Outlook for DeSci

Current technical and operational challenges facing the DeSci field

Peer review mechanism: In DeSci, peer review remains a critical quality control step. For example, Ants-Review has proposed a blockchain-based incentive protocol aimed at addressing the costly, inefficient, and centralized issues in traditional peer review. However, this system still faces key challenges, such as determining review eligibility, preventing malicious behavior, and cheating.

Project funding: While blockchain offers a new "crowdfunding" model, securing funding for large research projects remains a challenge. Smaller projects can utilize the NFR (non-fungible rights) model to address funding issues, but larger projects often require national-level investment.

Privacy protection: In DeSci, it is essential to find a balance between promoting transparency and collaboration while ensuring data confidentiality. Zero-knowledge proof (ZKP) technology plays a crucial role in this regard.

Diversity participation: The composition of the DeSci community reflects the existing demographic characteristics of the crypto and scientific fields, with underrepresentation of women and other minority groups. This lack of diversity is not limited to gender differences but also involves racial, geographical, and economic diversity. Such a lack of diversity may lead to biases and limitations in research directions, restricting the range of issues that DeSci can explore and address. To enhance inclusivity, DeSci projects need to actively attract and encourage participation from a broader range of groups. This may include providing educational resources, establishing partnerships, and ensuring diverse voices are heard in decision-making processes.

Long-term impacts and potential development paths of DeSci

Innovative fundraising methods: Platforms like Gitcoin provide funding for projects through new mechanisms such as secondary fundraising.

Intellectual property management: For example, the Molecule project creates a new way of managing intellectual property through the construction of intellectual property NFTs (IP-NFTs).

Development of data markets: Open data markets will stimulate new forms of collaboration, with innovative database structures like DBDAO allowing individuals to benefit from their data.

The importance of emergency funding: DeSci's ability to raise research funds is particularly crucial in responding to emergencies, such as public health crises like the COVID-19 pandemic. Traditional government funding is often allocated according to fiscal year budgets, which can be inflexible and slow in the face of emergencies. In contrast, DeSci can rapidly mobilize resources and concentrate funding on critical research and response measures due to its decentralized nature. This speed and efficiency are difficult to match with traditional fundraising methods. This rapid-response fundraising approach may become a key tool for addressing global public health emergencies in the future.

How to promote the integration of DeSci with traditional scientific fields

Transparent fund usage and management: Leveraging DeFi experience, DeSci can achieve more efficient fund usage.

Optimizing resource sharing: Smart contracts can facilitate the sharing of research equipment and other resources, promoting efficient resource use.

Promoting global collaboration: Decentralized science can leverage blockchain technology to promote collaboration on a global scale, especially for projects requiring global environmental data.

Application of AIGC technology: Artificial Intelligence Generated Content (AIGC) can enhance the productivity of scientific text production, helping to better showcase research outcomes.

Promoting open science and interdisciplinary collaboration: DeSci supports and strengthens the concept of open science, where scientific research and data are open to everyone, increasing transparency and accessibility. This helps improve the quality and impact of research. The DeSci environment encourages collaboration across different disciplines, breaking down traditional barriers between fields through blockchain and smart contract technology. Interdisciplinary collaboration is particularly important for addressing complex issues such as climate change and public health crises.

Conclusion and Recommendations

For research institutions and investors, DeSci offers a novel approach to research funding and project management. For example, the case of VitaDAO shows that through the DeSci model, research projects can receive funding support from DAOs in specialized fields and be managed through voting by DAO members. This model provides researchers with transparency in the funding allocation process and allows funders to participate directly in decision-making.

The current primary goals of DeSci are to address issues of funding, organization, and transparency in scientific research. By utilizing the transparency and immutability of blockchain technology, DeSci offers a new model for fundraising and managing scientific research. This model could facilitate closer collaboration between different research institutions and private funders, helping to bridge the "valley of death" between basic and clinical research. At the same time, it may provide more opportunities for young scientists to support non-traditional research.

DeSci significantly enhances the efficiency of academic publishing. By decentralizing the peer review and publication processes, it reduces publication time and complexity, allowing scientific knowledge to spread more rapidly. DeSci alleviates the monopoly issues in the traditional academic publishing market by providing an open and transparent platform. This helps increase publishing diversity, providing more researchers with opportunities to publish, thereby promoting the diversification and democratization of scientific research.

MT Capital

MT Capital, headquartered in Silicon Valley, is a crypto-native fund focused on Web3 and related technologies. Our global team, with diverse cultural backgrounds and perspectives, allows us to have an in-depth understanding of the global market and seize investment opportunities in different regions. MT Capital's vision is to become a leading global blockchain investment firm, focusing on supporting early-stage technology companies that can generate significant value. Since 2016, our investment portfolio has covered various fields, including Infra, L1/L2, DeFi, NFT, and GameFi. We are not just investors but also driving forces behind founding teams.

Official website: https://mt.capital/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/MTCapital_US

Medium: https://medium.com/@MTCapital_US

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