VitaDAO - Democratizing Longevity Research through the Blockchain (Tyler Golato and Laurence Ion)

On today’s episode of Translating Aging, Chris welcomes Tyler Golato and Laurence Ion to talk about VitaDAO, a collective accelerating research in human longevity and decentralized drug development.  The pair start the conversation off by discussing their company’s roots -  a previous business venture that sought to change the incentive structures around drug development.  VitaDAO was created as a means to support biological longevity research through decentralized means.   They go on to discuss VitaDAO’s future, how they can increase liquidity, and their goals to end drug development.  Golato and Ion argue that the present is a perfect time to create VitaDAO, given the current intersection between biotech, block chain, and longevity research.  They conclude by recalling the early-life dreams that inspired them to enter this field.  Episode Highlights: The essence of VitaDAO Changing the incentive structures around drug development The partners’ passion for longevity VitaDAO’s decentralized structure  Project sourcing and funding Increasing liquidity Goals to end drug development The intersection of biotech, block chain, and longevity Why Tyler and Laurence are interested in longevity Quotes:  “VitaDAO was born out of an early concept that we had been working on at a company called Molecule, which is a company that I co-founded about three years ago with a vision of doing decentralized drug development.” “It's not completely open, completely decentralized to the point where it's paralyzing for the organization, but we try to look at the things that are most valuable to decentralize in order to make the organization as maximally efficient as possible.” “We really try to make it as easy as possible for token holders to make informed decisions about whether or not something is ultimately worth funding. We like to do so once we're at the point where we ensure that we can actually progress with a deal.” “We are distinctly different fro