In the third installment of our introduction to longevity blog posts, we’re diving into the longevity and emerging tech fields to show how crypto and AI help advance longevity research and our work as a Foundation. Make sure to read the first and the second parts of the series for more on the basics of longevity and current trending areas.
To start, let’s introduce our founding board member, Garri Zmudze. A seasoned angel investor and tech expert, Garri is also a contributor to Cointelegraph, where he writes on the synergies between disruptive innovation, healthcare and longevity. If you want to delve deeper after reading this post, we recommend checking Garri’s Cointelegraph articles before.
If you’re new to the world of aging research, the connections between emerging tech and longevity might seem unclear. The obvious common denominators are the unorthodoxy and the ‘emerging’ nature of blockchain, cryptocurrency, AI, and longevity industries. However, the overlap extends far beyond the industries’ newness. We’ll explore some examples below!
AI and drug discovery
Insilico Medicine, a Hong Kong-based longevity biotech unicorn, found its niche by applying AI algorithms to discover and select drug candidates for clinical trials and approval. The target-to-market journey for drugs is both extremely costly and lengthy, typically spanning a decade or more. By using artificial intelligence and deep learning mechanisms, Insilico introduces unprecedented efficiency to the process. Their AI-discovered drug targets include treatments for COVID-19 and rare lung diseases.
AI and personalized medicine
Another Asia-based biotech, Deep Longevity, utilizes AI for biological age monitoring and prediction, providing its customers with thorough reports and personalized longevity interventions based on their scores. Our Scientific Advisory Board member Alex Zhavoronkov leads both Insilico and Deep Longevity. Alex and the chair of the LSF’s Scientific Board, Dr. Evelyne Bischof, are pioneers for AI in healthcare. Together, they help shape longevity medicine, redefining our understanding of patient care and thus shifting the focus from disease prevention to predictive diagnostics. A more personalized approach is imperative for longevity, where our biological profiles determine much of how we age.
Blockchain and patient data
Enter Longenensis, a company facilitating secure and compliant patient data access with blockchain technology. Longenesis provides streamlined solutions for collecting and processing highly sensitive patient data to equip scientists, medical institutions, and other stakeholders with tools for pushing healthcare forward. They specifically work with clinical trial data, which is incredibly important to advance life-changing medical discoveries. Combining AI and blockchain tech applications empowers businesses like Longenesis and Insilico to form highly-efficient partnerships, aiding one another in the quest for new milestones in aging research.
NFTs, IP ownership, and governance
NFT philanthropy illustrates why we should move past seeing NFTs purely as digital assets, opening the door for tech-enabled longevity fundraising. Institutions outside the crypto realm are waking up to the power of decentralized technology for community development. In the near future, we may witness NFT technology and utility-based tokens achieving broader use in the biomedical and other sectors.
Molecule is one company pushing the boundaries of conventional NFT use. It embeds non-fungible tokens with IP ownership rights. In hopes of addressing the lack of transparency and complexity surrounding early-stage longevity research grants, Molecule brings a new, collective fundraising approach.
VitaDAO is another organization that funds longevity initiatives. Through its partnership with Marble, it also plans to introduce IP ownership NFTs for existing research. More on them below!
DAOs and collective longevity funding
Decentralization is a movement where multiple parties hold authority rather than a single entity. This is important for longevity research, as it brings power to the people rather than in the hands of a (likely biased) individual. At the Longevity Science Foundation, we employ a decentralized funding structure in our voting process, where all donors have a say in our funding decisions.
VitaDAO is also unique in its funding structure. They function as a decentralized autonomous organization, or DAO for short. DAOs go beyond traditional organizational hierarchy in favor of community-led and computer-based governance–read M. Isabella’s article on Lifespan.io to gain further insight into VitaDAO’s working principles. To maintain its decentralized nature, VitaDAO sells governance tokens for its members, which they use to partake in decision-making and vote on research funding.
Crypto community’s interest in longevity
Longevity and web3 have become deeply intertwined in recent years. Aside from practical applications of various crypto and blockchain functions, the cause of human longevity has won the support of many crypto visionaries. As a fast-growing research area with a clearly beneficial outcome, it has attracted significant investment from finance and crypto KOLs. A notable example is Vitalik Buterin and his multi-million dollar commitment to the field, with some of the beneficiaries being Impetus Grants and the Methuselah Foundation. As more crypto stakeholders donate to longevity initiatives, we are reminded of the prevailing spirit of innovation found in those leading disruptive fields.
These are only some highlights of disruptive tech applications within the longevity ecosystem. We hope to see more people from other industries joining the ranks of aging research supporters. Supporting early-stage longevity science comes with a slew of benefits, and we welcome you to consider supporting our cause. Keep up with recent developments in the sphere of longevity and learn more about our work at the LSF by subscribing to our newsletter.
To start, let’s introduce our founding board member, Garri Zmudze. A seasoned angel investor and tech expert, Garri is also a contributor to Cointelegraph, where he writes on the synergies between disruptive innovation, healthcare and longevity. If you want to delve deeper after reading this post, we recommend checking Garri’s Cointelegraph articles before.
If you’re new to the world of aging research, the connections between emerging tech and longevity might seem unclear. The obvious common denominators are the unorthodoxy and the ‘emerging’ nature of blockchain, cryptocurrency, AI, and longevity industries. However, the overlap extends far beyond the industries’ newness. We’ll explore some examples below!
AI and drug discovery
Insilico Medicine, a Hong Kong-based longevity biotech unicorn, found its niche by applying AI algorithms to discover and select drug candidates for clinical trials and approval. The target-to-market journey for drugs is both extremely costly and lengthy, typically spanning a decade or more. By using artificial intelligence and deep learning mechanisms, Insilico introduces unprecedented efficiency to the process. Their AI-discovered drug targets include treatments for COVID-19 and rare lung diseases.
AI and personalized medicine
Another Asia-based biotech, Deep Longevity, utilizes AI for biological age monitoring and prediction, providing its customers with thorough reports and personalized longevity interventions based on their scores. Our Scientific Advisory Board member Alex Zhavoronkov leads both Insilico and Deep Longevity. Alex and the chair of the LSF’s Scientific Board, Dr. Evelyne Bischof, are pioneers for AI in healthcare. Together, they help shape longevity medicine, redefining our understanding of patient care and thus shifting the focus from disease prevention to predictive diagnostics. A more personalized approach is imperative for longevity, where our biological profiles determine much of how we age.
Blockchain and patient data
Enter Longenensis, a company facilitating secure and compliant patient data access with blockchain technology. Longenesis provides streamlined solutions for collecting and processing highly sensitive patient data to equip scientists, medical institutions, and other stakeholders with tools for pushing healthcare forward. They specifically work with clinical trial data, which is incredibly important to advance life-changing medical discoveries. Combining AI and blockchain tech applications empowers businesses like Longenesis and Insilico to form highly-efficient partnerships, aiding one another in the quest for new milestones in aging research.
NFTs, IP ownership, and governance
NFT philanthropy illustrates why we should move past seeing NFTs purely as digital assets, opening the door for tech-enabled longevity fundraising. Institutions outside the crypto realm are waking up to the power of decentralized technology for community development. In the near future, we may witness NFT technology and utility-based tokens achieving broader use in the biomedical and other sectors.
Molecule is one company pushing the boundaries of conventional NFT use. It embeds non-fungible tokens with IP ownership rights. In hopes of addressing the lack of transparency and complexity surrounding early-stage longevity research grants, Molecule brings a new, collective fundraising approach.
VitaDAO is another organization that funds longevity initiatives. Through its partnership with Marble, it also plans to introduce IP ownership NFTs for existing research. More on them below!
DAOs and collective longevity funding
Decentralization is a movement where multiple parties hold authority rather than a single entity. This is important for longevity research, as it brings power to the people rather than in the hands of a (likely biased) individual. At the Longevity Science Foundation, we employ a decentralized funding structure in our voting process, where all donors have a say in our funding decisions.
VitaDAO is also unique in its funding structure. They function as a decentralized autonomous organization, or DAO for short. DAOs go beyond traditional organizational hierarchy in favor of community-led and computer-based governance–read M. Isabella’s article on Lifespan.io to gain further insight into VitaDAO’s working principles. To maintain its decentralized nature, VitaDAO sells governance tokens for its members, which they use to partake in decision-making and vote on research funding.
Crypto community’s interest in longevity
Longevity and web3 have become deeply intertwined in recent years. Aside from practical applications of various crypto and blockchain functions, the cause of human longevity has won the support of many crypto visionaries. As a fast-growing research area with a clearly beneficial outcome, it has attracted significant investment from finance and crypto KOLs. A notable example is Vitalik Buterin and his multi-million dollar commitment to the field, with some of the beneficiaries being Impetus Grants and the Methuselah Foundation. As more crypto stakeholders donate to longevity initiatives, we are reminded of the prevailing spirit of innovation found in those leading disruptive fields.
These are only some highlights of disruptive tech applications within the longevity ecosystem. We hope to see more people from other industries joining the ranks of aging research supporters. Supporting early-stage longevity science comes with a slew of benefits, and we welcome you to consider supporting our cause. Keep up with recent developments in the sphere of longevity and learn more about our work at the LSF by subscribing to our newsletter.