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The potential of DAOs for funding and collaborative development in the life sciences

Nature Biotechnology volume 42, pages 555–562 (2024)Cite this article

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VitaDAO funds longevity research through a blockchain-based decentralized autonomous organization (DAO), showcasing the potential of collaborative, transparent and alternative systems while also highlighting the challenges of coordination, regulation, biases and skepticism in reshaping traditional research financing methods.

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Fig. 1: VitaDAO business model.
Fig. 2: Venture capital activity process versus VitaDAO process.

Data availability

Most materials are publicly available on VitaDAO Discourse (https://gov.vitadao.com/) or Discord (https://discord.com/invite/3S3ftnmZYD). Interviews are under NDAs.

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Acknowledgements

The authors wish to extend their profound gratitude to all interviewees from VitaDAO, who generously shared their insights and experiences, contributing immensely to the depth of our study. We would also like to recognize Scott Howell for his invaluable contributions to the development of the research design and overarching methodology. We also appreciate the engagement of one representative of Pfizer in this project. His participation and support have been pivotal in advancing this research.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Politecnico di Milano, School of Management, Milan, Italy

    Simone Fantaccini & Laura Grassi

  2. Novartis Pharma Schweiz AG, Basel, Switzerland

    Simone Fantaccini

  3. Milan, Italy

    Andrea Rampoldi

Authors
  1. Simone Fantaccini
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  2. Laura Grassi
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  3. Andrea Rampoldi
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Contributions

All authors were equally involved throughout the paper.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Laura Grassi.

Ethics declarations

Competing interests

To enter the DAO, on 1 November 2022, A.R. bought ten VitaDAO tokens — known as VITAs — which, at the time of purchase, were worth around $12 in total. Ten VITA tokens represent 0.000072% of voting rights at the date of the purchase and represents the minimum threshold to obtain full access to the DAO community and governance. Since the end of 2023, after completion of the study reported here, S.F. has served on the advisory board of VitaDAO, an organization that operates within the scope of the decentralized science movement. His role with VitaDAO is ongoing. Additionally, in 2023, subsequent to the study’s completion, he became an active participant in the decentralized science movement and has been involved in the establishment of a new DAO named Synapse. As of yet, Synapse is in its formative stage and is not yet operational.

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Nature Biotechnology thanks the anonymous reviewers for their contribution to the peer review of this work.

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Fantaccini, S., Grassi, L. & Rampoldi, A. The potential of DAOs for funding and collaborative development in the life sciences. Nat Biotechnol 42, 555–562 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41587-024-02189-0

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