Decentralized Science (DeSci): The Next Big Disruption You Need To Know

Traditional scientific research is often slow, siloed, and exclusive. Decentralized Science (DeSci) offers a solution. Using blockchain technology and tools like NFTs and DAOs, DeSci aims to make research more efficient, open, and accessible to all.

In this article, we’ll explore how DeSci works, the challenges it addresses, and its potential to revolutionize research and development.

What Is Decentralized Science?

Decentralized Science (DeSci) is a movement that aims to transform the scientific research process by utilizing blockchain technology and its related tools, such as tokens, non-fungible tokens (NFTs), smart contracts, and decentralized autonomous organizations (DAOs).

Unlike traditional systems that limit or hinder scientific R&D — described by Paul Kohlhaas, founder and CEO of BIO Protocol, as “science friction” — DeSci focuses on creating self-sovereign science. This approach fosters a more transparent, open, and collaborative environment for scientific inquiry, funding, and knowledge sharing.

How DeSci Works: Key Components

DeSci is practically achieved by integrating blockchain technologies and building upon the fundamental principles of Web3, such as transparency, inclusivity, and decentralization. 

Here are the key components that make it work:

• Decentralized Autonomous Organizations (DAOs): DAOs enable communities to govern research projects collectively. Stakeholders use tokens to vote on key decisions, such as research priorities, funding allocation, and project direction.

• Intellectual Property Non-Fungible Tokens (IP-NFTs): IP-NFTs revolutionize how scientific discoveries are owned and shared. By tokenizing research data, patents, and copyrights, DeSci allows researchers to maintain ownership of their intellectual property, receive fair recognition for their work, and even monetize their findings in new ways. 

• Tokenized incentives: DeSci introduces tokenized incentive systems to reward participants for their contributions to scientific research. Tokens can be awarded for various activities, including data sharing, collaborations, peer review, and research publication.

What’s Wrong With Modern Science?

While science has driven incredible progress, the current research ecosystem faces significant challenges:

• Access to information: One of the primary limitations placed upon modern science is the incorporation of paywalls. Often locked behind expensive paywalls, access to transparent scientific research is limited, meaning everyone from researchers and students to the general public is effectively barred from this knowledge—restricting learning and delaying real-world application.

• Funding inequities: Scientific research funding can be sparse in new and emerging fields due to monopolization created by mainstream topics and long-established institutions. Competition often results in an unfair distribution of resources, and important areas, such as rare disease research or disability research, are underfunded.

• Reproducibility issues: Replicating research results is fundamental to ensuring scientific integrity and sustained application for use cases. However, reproducing research findings requires raw data, detailed methods of application, and a level of transparency often inaccessible to researchers. This lack of access makes it difficult—and sometimes impossible—to validate a study’s results.

Source –  https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/blockchain/articles/10.3389/fbloc.2024.1375763/pdf 

Modern science’s inefficiencies are seen most clearly when observing its grant processes and siloed data sharing. 

According to a research paper by Brian A Jacob and Lars Lefgren, obtaining grants for scientific research requires researchers to navigate a competitive and bureaucratic funding process that can involve significant delays.

When researchers’ data is made inaccessible for further scientific research, the collaborative process is halted, and the ability to build on existing knowledge is hindered. In March 2024, the Gates Foundation published an article critiqued paywall-barred research for restricting data-sharing practices and advocated for open and transparent access to scientific research.

How DeSci Solves Science’s Biggest Problems

DeSci offers solutions to the problems faced by modern scientific research through the use of the aforementioned Web3 technologies: blockchain, DAOs and tokenized incentives. 

Through these three areas, DeSci enables the creation of a more effective, accessible, and equitable ecosystem for researchers and stakeholders.

Blockchain for transparency and reproducibility

Blockchain tech provides an immutable and decentralized digital ledger that can verify the integrity of scientific records. This ensures transparency and accessibility. Because the blockchain is immutable, its cryptographic methods prevent data from being tampered with or removed.

Researchers who use blockchain tech can securely store their findings, timestamp their discoveries, create equitable data-sharing practices, and provide verifiable public data for future scientific research. 

Smart contracts enable transparent and verifiable peer review processes, motivating researchers to create reproducible scientific work. This should improve the reliability of scientific findings.

Decentralized data storage methods, such as InterPlanetary File System (IPFS) or Filecoin, add an additional layer of security for the data by distributing it throughout a peer-to-peer (P2P) network. This helps mitigate and avoid single points of failure found in centralized data storage by securing the data across multiple locations.

DAOs in research

The introduction of DAOs brought about decentralized governance to projects throughout Web3. When applied to scientific research, it opens the door to an entirely new process of science. The DAO community, whether it consists of researchers, fund-raisers, or the general public, functions as the stakeholders. They determine the direction of the research — and, ultimately, the project.

DAOs democratize the collaborative process through community-driven decision-making. They determine the allocation of resources, prioritization of projects, and progression of research. For example, VitaDAO, a group focused on longevity research, collaborates by pooling community resources to fund scientific research and voting on which projects it wishes to support.

Through these processes, DAOs reduce the bureaucratic inefficiencies of modern scientific research. This allows researchers to focus on the actual study rather than spending most of their time on fundraising efforts.

IP-NFTs in science

IP-NFTs offer a transparent and efficient mechanism for tokenizing scientific discoveries. They assign, verify, and trade ownership rights. By transforming research data, patents, and even experimental results into NFTs, institutions and researchers can securely control and monetize their intellectual property.

IP-NFTs also foster collaboration. They provide a transparent system for tracking ownership and contributions. This ensures a fair sharing of responsibilities and rewards, reducing disputes and promoting data sharing. Whether intellectual, operational, or financial, each stakeholder’s role is recorded on the blockchain, acknowledged, and compensated proportionally.

Built on blockchain, these tokenized scientific discoveries are publicly recorded, immutable, and can feature fractional shares, allowing multiple stakeholders to invest in and benefit from them.

Game-Changing DeSci Projects You Should Know

As the DeSci narrative gains momentum, many projects have emerged, each seeking to tackle specific areas of scientific research or improve processes in modern science. Here are five initiatives already making a difference, beginning with the catalyst that started it all. 

Bio Protocol

Funding early-stage BioDAOs focused on high-impact genetic research projects

BIO protocol is a decentralized launchpad that enables scientific research and biotechnology to be collaboratively tackled through an on-chain economy of scientific communities (BioDAOs). It was built to create efficient liquid markets for scientific IP and accelerate the funding of science on-chain through standardized bioDAO frameworks, tokenomics and data/product suites.

The protocol utilizes its native token (BIO) to enable token holders to vote on which new BioDAOs join the ecosystem, creating a bottom-up method of funding scientific research. BioDAOs selected by the community of token holders are then funded, added to the treasury, and supported by the BIO protocol in their scientific efforts.

CerebrumDAO

Studying neuroinflammation inhibitors to combat early-stage Alzheimer’s disease

CerebrumDAO aims to improve brain health and prevent neurodegenerative diseases, working towards tackling the likes of Alzheimer’s disease by researching metabolic alterations, neuroinflammation, and more. The DAO prioritizes ambitious “moonshot” projects that address the underlying mechanisms of brain degeneration and aging, such as identifying novel biomarkers for early detection.

Its goals are to build the world’s largest community focused on its areas of scientific research, to extend the healthy brain lifespan, and to reverse (where possible) neurodegeneration. To do so,  it uses its native token, NEURON, to enable public participation in its research decision-making and remove the barriers present in modern scientific research.

CryoDAO

Exploring cryopreservation to demonstrate high-subzero resuscitation feasibility

CryoDAO’s objective is to contribute to cryopreservation research projects that have the most potential to further the capabilities and quality of cryopreservation, which is sub-zero preservation and revival.

CryoDAO seeks to develop and validate techniques for whole-body vitrification, cryoprotectant distribution, and resuscitation from high-subzero temperatures. Its flagship project, CRYORAT, involves the high-subzero cryopreservation of a rat which, if successful, could lead to organ preservation breakthroughs and the achievement of suspended animation.

The collective also envisions establishing research findings that can be applied to creating trauma medicine, organ transplantation, and even milestones that some could consider science ‘fiction’ research, such as space travel cryosleep.

ValleyDAO

Focuses on improving microbial alternative productions to replace unsustainable resources

ValleyDAO is dedicated to supporting and funding scientific research in synthetic biology, which aims to address climate change by utilizing biological organisms to sustainably produce food, materials, fuels, and other essential products.

The DAO tasks itself with speeding up the development and adoption of synthetic biology tech by focusing on areas like biofuels, biomanufacturing, and ethical alternatives to palm oil. Ultimately, ValleyDAO sets out to drive innovation in these fields to mitigate and overcome existential threats to the planet by creating sustainable synthetic alternatives.

Through its governance model, facilitated through its native token, GROW, ValleyDAO enables a community-driven approach to scientific research to turn research findings into real-world solutions and improve the planet for the future.

PsyDAO

Funding open research on psilocybin’s potential to treat ‘treatment-resistant’ depression 

PsyDAO is a collective working to democratize the R&D and the ownership of psychedelic IP and to ensure that the outcomes remain accessible and ethically governed by the community. Its mission is rooted in the belief that psychedelics hold the ability to potentially transform human consciousness and mental health and that their development should be equitable, transparent, and globally inclusive.q1

It seeks to unmonopolize psychedelics and create an open space for scientific discoveries in the field that are collaboratively owned and managed to ensure equitable access is maintained. The DAO aspires to function as a “hivemind” that takes a bottom-up approach, redesigning incentives to focus on people, such as patients, recreational users, and spiritual communities, rather than centralized organizational ownership.

What DeSci Means For The Future

DeSci presents a novel approach to scientific efforts to democratize access to scientific research while ensuring more efficient access to research resources and funding. By removing the barriers associated with modern science, DeSci facilitates the crowdfunding of scientific projects, and the tokenization of IP opens the door to decentralized grants.

By removing the traditional data siloes encountered in modern science, DeSci promotes active and public collaboration for any discipline of science — interconnecting previously fragmented communities.

Due to its use of blockchain tech, DeSci holds transparency in the highest regard, ensuring that research data, processes, and findings remain open, accessible, and verifiable. By recording these aspects on-chain, DeSci removes opaque methodologies from scientific research and hidden biases to restore trust in science for the public.

Challenges and Considerations

While DeSci offers tremendous promise, it’s important to acknowledge potential challenges:

• Regulatory uncertainty: DeSci’s development depends on navigating evolving blockchain and cryptocurrency regulations.
• Data privacy compliance: Balancing blockchain’s immutability with data privacy rules (e.g., the “right to be forgotten”) poses a key challenge.
• Scalability and interoperability: Ensuring DeSci platforms can handle growth and work seamlessly together is crucial for widespread adoption.
• Decentralized governance: Effective governance models for DeSci DAOs are needed to ensure fairness and prevent power imbalances.

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Conclusion

DeSci represents a paradigm shift in how scientific research is conducted, funded, and shared. By leveraging Web3 technologies, DeSci empowers researchers, fosters collaboration, and accelerates the pace of discovery. While challenges remain, DeSci has undeniable potential to transform the scientific landscape and address humanity’s most pressing challenges. As this field continues to evolve, it promises to unlock a new era of scientific progress—one that is more open, equitable, and beneficial for all.