[DIYbio] Re: medical research crowd funding

However, the idea is not without merit, and there has been attempts to get things like this going in the science community. I think the more feasible concept might be for more direct collaborations to take place (outside the formal academic settings and its associated bureaucracy) so that research resources and results can be shared without worrying about things like whether the results can be published or not. I have seen some diy/hacker communities take their projects to a commercial level of maturity, so even if you initially restricted the website to certain types of organizations, you can't necessarily prevent them from veering away from it once they have managed to get the project off the ground.

I'd be interested in specific details, and perhaps others will have different opinions. Basically the best way to test the idea is to get something out their and let the people decide for themselves.

Thanks

On Monday, 4 February 2013 12:46:22 UTC+11, scylla wrote:

I have begun a web site with the aim of providing crowd funding to medical research projects. This idea was prompted by finding out that a university group had cured type 1 diabetes in mice, successfully completed a phase 1 human clinical trial, and needed funding to complete phase 2. I thought there must be quite a few groups out there who also need funding. What better way would there be than allowing the public to directly have a say in medical research by providing the means for them to find, fund, and follow the research that means the most to them. I am considering also opening this up to the DIY bio community, but I am not quite sure of all the considerations I would need to think about. I have also struggled with whether posting projects should be restricted to verified non-profits, or if I should leave it open. The thinking behind restriction was that I did not want any corporate drug companies on the site. But, by doing so, I may miss a lot of legitimate, innovative, and compassionate for profit groups, especially within the DIY bio communities. How many of you with businesses are non-profit? How many are for profit? What would you think about a site like this?