Author: TechFlow
The crypto market is more than just a meme. The exploration of putting economic incentives and data control rights into practical use has never stopped.
Among them, DeSci (decentralized science) has always been a hot topic - through the transparency and incentives of blockchain, data owners can contribute data, track data usage and receive due compensation.
Recently, a new project called AminoChain announced on its official Twitter account that it had received a $5 million seed round of financing led by a16z; combined with investments from other private funds such as Cercano, the project's current total financing amount has reached $7.8 million.
AminoChain belongs to the pure DeSci track, applying the traceability and transparency of blockchain to the collection, contribution, use and remuneration of biological specimens in the medical and scientific research fields.
It is worth mentioning that public information shows that this is also the first time that top VC a16z has invested in a project in the DeSci track.
In a market where VC coins are not taking over each other and memes are flying all over the place, if crypto can do something good for traditional industries, and if VC can really invest in a project that can benefit other industries, it can be regarded as a correct and unique fresh stream.
Build a dedicated biobank on L2
Public information shows that Aminochain is building a decentralized "Biobank" on L2.
The so-called biobank can be understood as an on-chain platform, which connects patients and volunteers on one end, where they can upload their biological samples for use and research by medical and scientific research institutions; and connects medical institutions on the other end, enabling them to securely share and process medical data in the biobank network.
Under the design characteristics of the public blockchain, researchers can easily find and access samples, while patients retain control and receive compensation for the use of their data.
However, it is not clear whether AminoChain will build its own decentralized biobank on the existing L2, or build a separate L2 specifically for handling "transactions" related to medical data and biological specimens.
Judging from the project name, the latter is more likely.
Leaving aside the specific technology selection, what is the motivation for establishing a decentralized bio-sample library?
As the founders of AmimoChain wrote in a blog post:
“Every year, tens of thousands of people provide their blood, saliva and cancer tissue samples to the medical community, helping researchers develop new life-saving medicines for the benefit of humanity… Unfortunately, today’s data collected from these highly sensitive personal samples and data is one-way.
Biospecimen donors are asked if their samples can be used for scientific research, they sign a consent form, the researchers collect the biospecimens, and then the two go their separate ways. The process of donating samples is a black box to donors, and the consent rate at major institutions is currently as low as 25%. "
Therefore, in the field of biological sample donation, which we know little about, there are at least two problems:
Centralized control and storage of sample data poses a huge obstacle to scientific progress and improved patient outcomes
It is impossible to effectively track the source of samples and manage user consent.
To put it more bluntly, even if patients or volunteers donate their biological samples, they may not receive the proper compensation, or even know how big their contribution is.
AminoChain, then, is a technology that connects enterprise healthcare organizations, on top of which healthcare applications can be built, and provides transparency to patients so that they can finally understand where the money they donated to society is going.
Install a node in the database of a traditional institution
How does AminoChain work specifically?
The crux of the matter lies in AminoNode, a software package developed by the project.
Traditional medical or scientific research institutions are certainly not so proficient in encryption and blockchain, and their own information systems are also highly customized and closed.
Therefore, Amino's approach is to install its own software package, AminoNode, in the original institution's system while keeping it unchanged. From the name, this software package is definitely more like an Amimo network node, but its function is different from the node we understand as verifying whether the transaction is correct:
It is more like a data collector implanted in the traditional system and standardizes the data.
AminoNode can be integrated into a hospital or research institution’s own EMR, inventory management software, or data collection software. The data is stored on the server of a specific institution, while the node software unifies and standardizes the data into a common format, enabling it to interoperate with the partner network.
As a result, Node software can ingest data from all providers and bring trusted neutrality to the network; on top of this, developers can ingest data from a wide range of healthcare institutions and build any number of patient-centric applications.
Currently, AminoChain’s first application is called “Sample Center”, a peer-to-peer biological sample market.
The marketplace allows researchers and collaborators to query their biospecimen collections and also query the research assets available for their own use. Across institutions, users can streamline licensing agreements, track sample and data usage, and maintain the full provenance of biospecimens in an interoperable network of biobanks.
Due to the transparency and traceability of the market, the efficiency of the use and communication of biological samples has obviously improved. Traditionally, researchers need to send emails back and forth for an average of 8 weeks to find the required samples, sign license agreements and ship the samples. Now it may be done with just one click.
Meanwhile, patients/sample donors track where their samples go in the network, learn from the information generated by the samples, and earn money back when the samples are commercialized or sold.
For example, in the demo below, data such as blood and sweat contributed by patients at different times can be viewed on a management console, and the usage and flow of samples can also be traced on the blockchain (L2).
More than just biological samples
The use case of this sample market is actually to demonstrate the control that patients have over their contributed data and the benefits they can gain from it. But it is clear that there are more scenarios that can be used.
Medical institutions in the AminoChain network will be able to benefit from multiple distributed applications such as clinical recruitment, clinical trial management, decentralized artificial intelligence, and federated learning.
Ultimately, the project’s vision is to create the world’s first HIPAA- and GDPR-compliant blockchain for the healthcare industry — a platform on which any company, network, nonprofit, or independent scientist can access and build compliant healthcare data.
Due to the sensitivity and privacy of medical data, the on-chain storage and labeling of data must also be combined with corresponding privacy protection technologies such as zero-knowledge proof, which can grant different usage rights to the data while declaring data control and obtain benefits based on usage rules.
If we must say, the DeSci narrative is also consistent with the spirit of the crypto community and Degens, which is to maximize individual rights and interests --- patients are no longer the weakest link in the entire interest chain, and patients are the first to benefit from participating in scientific research.
At the same time, we have also seen more projects emerging on RWA, clean energy, DeSci, etc.
When integration with more traditional industries becomes a trend, the definition of crypto as a casino may gradually change.
