Strengthening Decentralized Science
Sharing a mission of supporting early stage life sciences research and development, Molecule and Nucleate are joining forces to cultivate the next generation of bioentrepreneurs. A partnership between Molecule, a central player in the growing Decentralized Science (DeSci) ecosystem, and Nucleate, a leading organization in the development of biotech leaders, is a novel opportunity to engage and educate the scientific community about innovative ways to fund their cutting-edge research. Molecule’s unique decentralized funding infrastructure enables this synergistic alliance, connecting a global network of drug hunters, academics and science enthusiasts across the world, united in the common goal of advancing high-quality biomedical research.
Nucleate and Molecule share a common culture of innovation. Like Nucleate, Molecule’s vision for the future of life sciences is where intellectual property value is shared by researchers, entrepreneurs and patients alike. DeSci is the mechanism through which this vision can come to fruition. Its principles of incentive alignment, community engagement, and human-centricity are critical in moving the needle of change forward.
Molecule has created a legal & smart contract platform called an intellectual property non-fungible token (IP-NFT). The IP-NFT facilitates the assignment of IP rights to blockchain-based tokens, enabling the legal rights, data access, and economics around research projects to be seamlessly funded and traded. Leveraging this technology, Molecule is building an ecosystem of scientific supporters eager to fund researchers, and the partnership with Nucleate is instrumental in connecting researchers with this community.
“We are thrilled to partner with Nucleate and to support the next generation of biotech leaders. Through this partnership, we hope to expand the reach of decentralized science to every campus in the world, and build on what is already the largest global community of bio innovators.” Tyler Golato, Molecule CEO
“We couldn’t be more excited to be partnering with Molecule to enable translation of research from the University to the real world through community engagement. Through this partnership, we are proud to empower the next generation by launching the Nucleate - Molecule Venture Fellowship which aims to train students in the field of venture building while simultaneously increasing the number of academic research projects that lead to commercialization.” Sammi Sison, Nucleate’s Co-President
Venture Fellows
Ten candidates will be selected from a global pool of Nucleate fellows for the Venture Fellows program in 2024, and will undergo thorough education in two key areas: the essentials of IP funding via Molecule’s token-based model, and the principles of Decentralized Science (DeSci). Equipped with this knowledge, they will support selected research projects to successfully showcase their science and secure funding via Molecule’s platform. The fellowship will last for 6 months, in which time the Venture Fellows will participate in deal flow discussions with researchers and university technology transfer offices (TTOs), scientific reviews of projects, product development, and community engagement. By the end of the fellowship, the candidates will have been exposed to many of the challenges facing early stage researchers, and will be well positioned to tackle them in the next stage of their careers.
Applications for 10 positions are now open, and those interested in applying can check out the job description here and submit their CV and cover letter here. Applications from European candidates will close at the end of March, and applications from candidates in the U.S. and Taiwan will close at the end of April.
The $100K DeSci Award
In addition to the partnership, Molecule has created a $100,000 DeSci Award that will be granted to a research program sourced and tokenized by a Nucleate Fellow. The money will ensure that the deserving project will have sufficient resources to advance to its next value inflection point. Molecule will also assist the winning team in spinning out their asset with IP-NFT formation and tokenization to further increase the ability of the DeSci ecosystem to participate in its development.
About Molecule
Molecule enables funding at the earliest stages of translational research. Molecule’s products make IP effortlessly transactable through tokenization, enabling an incentive-aligned, community-driven approach to address inefficiencies in the translational research pipeline. Simply put, Molecule is building a future where smart people with good ideas can quickly fund and successfully de-risk them with community support. Since 2022, Molecule has raised $20+ million to further this goal.
About Nucleate
Nucleate is a non-profit organization dedicated to empowering the next generation of biotech leaders. With chapters spanning 23 geographic regions and participation from over 120 academic institutions, Nucleate sparks new intellectual communities and embeds emerging talent within a global biotech community. Through open-access educational programming, Nucleate helps democratize biotech innovation — removing barriers and helping founders concentrate on building transformational technologies.
