October Newsletter | 2021
October Newsletter | 2021
Blockchain Week Lisbon, Alternate Neuroimaging, #BuildingInPublic
Hey! I’m Aleem 👋
I'm a 15y/o developer learning all I can about neuroscience! I’ve been creating projects to further my technical depth for the last year, like counting my pushups with CV. I’ve been in & out of the crypto space for ~5 years, founding BitcloutIQ, a VC backed data analytics platform, before shutting down after 6 months of operation.
Now I’m primarily exploring the brain, making wearable tech for retirement homes, and as for the rest? Read the newsletter - this month’s been crazy 😉
TL;DR:
Fully sponsored to attend blockchain week Lisbon by Ric Burton 🙌
A neuroscience funding hub DAO? 🤫
Ideated a neuroimaging alternative using lightwaves 💡
Thermapal pilot delayed 🕒
Did a 30 day #buildinginpublic challenge 🗣
Blockchain Week 💵
First off. HUGEEE S/O to Ric Burton for sponsoring me to this sick opportunity 🔥
This was literally my first DM on twitter ever. So glad I hopped on for the #buildinginpublic challenge, twitter’s a life changer 🙏
Throughout the week I went to several events, the ETHLisbon hack & even hustled in to the Liscon Conference! By primarily surrounding myself with the DAO community rather than the broader DeFi space I found answers to all the questions I couldn’t find on google + made meaningful relationships 🫂
Ended up spending a good portion of my time with VitaDAO & Molecule, a funding hub system for longevity research. Over the hack we made a proof of concept for Fractionalizing IP NFTs - but more on that in an article 😉
Main Takeaways:
DAOs are the future of community VC
Time is invested, enjoyed, or better yet both
Blockchain is for problems, not solutions
Check my article on it here
A neuroscience funding hub DAO? 🤫
Alongside my friend Ahnaaf & VitaDAO/Molecule, I’ve been conceptualizing MiruDAO. Miru applies the same concept as Vita, except to neuroscience research 🧠
I originally asked Paul & Tyler- the cofounders from Molecule why VitaDAO is soley for longevity, to which it’s only because that’s where they were passionate & could get a community! They’re now expanding to other areas, like PsyDAO tackling funding for psychedelic research, and when this was introduced I pitched MiruDAO 🚀
In the past week we’ve made a one-pager & discord. While still learning fundamentals of how all this technology works, we have some basic next steps to pursue over November.
What to do now:
Find a project to fund
Create an IP NFT to fund that project
Build a community during the process
I outlined everything more clear in this tweet :)
TKS hack for alternate neuroimaging 🧠
The best & most commonly way to preform a brain scan is through Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (fMRI). This is a truck sized machine, with operating noise levels similar to a rock concert that takes ~2 weeks for receiving results. Where I find it most stupid, is they do majority of sleep studies here!! In a scanner as loud as a jackhammer?? There has to be a better way 🤦♂️
My team & I looked into all kinds of modalities, and discovered OCT has use cases outside of retina analyzation. This is an eye scanner looking for diseases by sending lightwaves and measuring the reflection signal. After tons of validation we created a memo proposing it’s use case to apply the same techniques within the brain, sending light through the skull and grabbing data from all our neurons. OCT is already in pre-clinical trials with mice, with a successful brain scan done!
The noise and size from fMRI machines are directly because of the magnetism needed for collecting data, whereas in our light-based solution it:
Significantly reduces cost 💸
Makes the machine portable 🧲
Same day results ⏱
Little noise (good for sleep studies) 🧘
Check out our memo here
Thermapal pilot delayed 🏥
Context: Thermapal is a vital-tracking bracelet system for retirement homes
This is our fault!! Between Blockchain Week Lisbon and logistics we’ve delayed the pilot 3 times :(
We’re now taking this time to upgrade our dashboard, and redesigning everything in a new codebase. Hoping to fly out before end of November to prove value add by end of year.
30 day #buildinginpublic challenge 🗣
I’m still in shock of how incredibly valuable this was. Before the challenge I was hesitant to be on twitter but within the month:
I got flown out to Lisbon
Connected with blockchain, neuroscience and VC people
Grew my reach by well over 10x
What?? My first DM, on a free app, to someone I didn’t know led to a fully sponsored trip for Blockchain Week Lisbon with no expectation in return?? Wild.
I always thought building in public was pointless and no one cared, but even from a personal perspective it kept me accountable to make progress daily! Not to mention it keeps your network in the loop ;)
Shoutouts ❤️
Micheal Raspuzzi (TKS Director)
I’ve grown so much this month, and it’s only the begging! We’ve gotten closer recently and the guidance is super valuable to what steps I need to take for completing my goals :)
Ric Burton (Lisbon Sponsor)
Blockchain Week was so impactful!! Alongside the other sponsors, he made this entirely possible, the mission for exposing kids to ETH is really admirable. They’re now sponsoring 100+ kids to NFT NYC for the same reasons. Thank you Ric <3
My Mom (A.K.A The Goat)
She’s helped me with so many things this month! Between helping me organize myself, getting to Portugal safely and supporting me she’s made everything easier, all my homies love my mom :D
If you’re still reading this— Thank you 😁
Connect with me here and make sure to subscribe for next months! If you have any questions just drop em in the comments - would love to chat ⬇️