What Is LabDAO and How Does It Work?
LabDAO is a DeSci (decentralized science) organization that is focused on the execution layer of the scientific process. It intends to bridge the gap between the stages of funding scientific research and distributing it. By connecting scientific researchers using blockchain technology, LabDAO aims to build a peer-to-peer ‘marketplace’ for scientists to trade and share tools that can be used to further research and development (R&D).
Introducing LabDAO
Created by part of the core team from VitaDAO, a scientific research funding DAO, LabDAO presents itself as a biotech DAO that focuses on using technology for the “management and ownership mechanisms of outsourced R&D.” Essentially, it is a decentralized, community-run research and development lab service DAO that wants to empower life sciences by using blockchain technology to connect wet-lab researchers, who work with liquids, chemicals, and biological materials, with dry-lab (bioinformatics) researchers, who work with computation, physics, and engineering.
This newly emerging DAO joins the growing number of DeSci organizations, such as PsyDAO, LYNX, VitaDAO, and Molecule, that wish to democratize and transform the structures and processes of how scientific work is done, creating an extended community. By sharing data and collaborating on resource management, LabDAO hopes to construct a digital ecosystem for scientific research that will streamline the process and extend collaboration to a broader scale.
How does LabDAO work?
LabDAO’s plan is to enrich communication between scientific professionals across the world and the services that they have access to. For example, if a scientist in a biochemistry lab needs to perform X experiment with Y equipment, and they have existing funding, they could use LabDAO to connect with other DAO researchers in a physics laboratory that has Y equipment, thus allowing that physics lab to run the experiment without any additional equipment purchases. That lab can then return the data to the biochemistry lab, which can then complete its research. In the end, LabDAO models itself as an open-source Airbnb for laboratory services, allowing it to:
- Optimize costs through equipment and knowledge sharing
- Allow scientists to cooperate for further learning
- Increase the potential of research and inspire further studies
In addition, a wider research community could provide researchers with a more expansive range of scientific capabilities along with broad demographic datasets, which could help researchers confirm that their proposed interventions are beneficial for different groups of people.
How will the LabDAO process happen?
The team behind LabDAO plans a three-step process:
- Building the openlab protocol for the DAO. This is essentially the open source payment layer powering the exchange of laboratory services. It will allow DAO participants to exchange, provide, and request lab services among the DAO’s participant network.
- The development of biotechnology standards on top of the openlab exchange. .
- Coming full circle, the DAO will use the transactions on the marketplace to create a knowledge graph of results of laboratory experiments.
Where does LabDAO fit in the DeSci community?
LabDAO will generate funding for open source development and open science projects through marketplace fees. Like Molecule and VitaDAO, it makes use of IP NFTs and governance tokens, and it sits between them in a three-layer model:
- Organizations in the funding layer focus on funding and capital for projects by utilizing tools such as GitCoin to raise funds. VitaDAO is one such example. This vital role makes further projects possible.
- The execution layer is where research, manual processes, experiments, and gathering data occurs. This is the practical part of the overall ecosystem. It allows scientists to connect and work together to learn and gather data. LabDAO is building this layer.
- In the distribution layer, the primary aim is about the distribution of results and further funding that would allow the ecosystem to continue to work. Projects like Molecule are active here.
Ultimately, LabDAO is a decentralized organization with the end goal of becoming the community-owned and open-source Amazon Web Services of the research and development world. This DAO focuses on how researchers can share and distribute scientific services between a network of distributed laboratories, thus offering scientists the freedom to operate more effectively and to potentially take on larger challenges that have up until now been hindered by lack of funding or access to equipment.
