Cerebrum DAO is a Bio Protocol BioDAO that, in its own words, is "a community-powered network organization to source, fund, and translate research that accelerates solutions to extend healthy brain lifespan" (cerebrumdao.com/about). Its first focus area is Alzheimer's disease — a condition it notes affects some 6.7 million Americans, with cases projected to rise sharply by 2050 (Bio Protocol). Founder Brian Magierski has said the effort was motivated by his daughter's Down syndrome diagnosis, which carries a near-certain lifetime risk of Alzheimer's dementia.
Cerebrum follows the VitaDAO model pioneered across the Bio Protocol pipeline: a freely-tradeable governance token funds early-stage translational research, and the resulting intellectual property is tokenized on-chain as an IP-NFT owned by the community rather than a single lab or fund.
What Cerebrum DAO funds
Cerebrum treats neurodegeneration as tightly coupled to biological aging, and concentrates on the upstream drivers of brain decline: neuro-inflammation, metabolic stress, mitochondrial dysfunction, and vascular changes — with particular attention to blood-brain-barrier dysfunction (cerebrumdao.com). Researchers apply for funding directly, with a stated 6–8 week response window depending on the pipeline (cerebrumdao.com/researchers).
When the DAO backs a project, the IP is tokenized "using the IPNFT protocol, ensuring equitable distribution of license and governance rights," and licensing proceeds are split between the researchers and the DAO (cerebrumdao.com/about). This is the same Molecule-built mechanism used by HairDAO and VitaDAO — funding research before a company exists and giving the community an on-chain claim on its upside.
The IP-NFT portfolio
As of mid-2026 Cerebrum reports roughly $1.3 million committed across seven projects (cerebrumdao.com/projects):
| Project | What it is | Instrument | Allocated |
|---|---|---|---|
| Fission Bio | Protein–protein interaction inhibitor severing the link between chronic inflammation and mitochondrial dysfunction | IP-Token | $400,000 |
| Percepta® | Patent-protected brain-health supplement (PTI-00703® cat's claw + MemorTea® oolong extract); tokenized as IP-NFT #129 | IP Portfolio License | $400,000 |
| Project Transfidelity | Enhancing protein-translation fidelity to combat neurodegeneration (Dr Dimitri Scherbakov, University of Zurich) | IP-Token | $254,000 |
| Arctic Therapeutics (AT-001) | Oral NAC-amide (NACA) disrupting amyloid plaques; Phase IIa data in HCCAA patients (Dr Hakon Hakonarson) | Equity | €75,000 |
| SK-Channels | Small-molecule modulator for tremors and ataxia | IP License | $60,000 |
| Neuron-Gale | Galectin-3 inhibitors for neuro-inflammation (Dr Maryna Polyakova) | — | $50,000 |
| Xponetiq | Mobile app for brain-healthy habits | Product | $50,000 |
Cerebrum describes the Percepta deal as "a world's first tokenization of a robust patent portfolio and a world's first tokenized crowdsale for a clinical evidence study" (cerebrumdao.com) — an illustration of how a BioDAO can pool retail capital behind a specific clinical study rather than a whole company.
NEURON token & governance
Cerebrum raised its treasury through a Dutch auction of the NEURON token on the Bio Protocol launchpad, with a deadline of 3pm CET on 30 April 2024; every participant paid the same clearing price and lower bidders were refunded, with US persons excluded and Persona KYC required (Bio Protocol). NEURON is a freely-transferable ERC-20 on Ethereum (0xab81…4a6b).
Holding NEURON confers governance rights over which research the DAO funds, plus exclusive access to the DAO's IP Tokens, discounted access to future brain-health products, and early access to any therapeutics it brings to market (cerebrumdao.com/neuron-token). Voting is on-chain and token-weighted: influence over the funding pipeline scales with the size of a holder's NEURON balance.
How Caper approaches this
Cerebrum shows both the promise and the tension in token-governed research funding. The promise is real: a community, not a single fund, decides which neuroscience gets backed, and owns the resulting IP-NFTs. The tension is that NEURON is a freely-tradeable token — so control over which science gets funded has a spot price. A large enough buyer can accumulate NEURON and tilt the funding pipeline, and the voice a long-time contributor earned is worth exactly the same as the same balance bought yesterday.
Caper keeps token-weighted stake but adds a factor that cannot be bought. Every vote mints a soulbound proof-of-vote token — non-transferable and indivisible (DIVISIBILITY_NONE, and mintable/depositable only by the DAO component so it can never move between holders; contracts/src/caper_dao.rs). A member's voting weight is (t·v)/(V·T) — held governance tokens t multiplied by their earned vote record v, over supply — and the treasury exit share is computed by the very same formula. So a big NEURON-style bag still counts (t is a multiplier, not ignored), but it cannot by itself capture the pipeline: the decisive, earned part of governance weight is a record you accumulate by participating, and it is not for sale.