Institute for Psychedelics and Neurotherapeutics
@ucdavisipn.bsky.social
Our mission is to advance our understanding of the basic neurobiology of psychedelics and translate this knowledge into safe and effective therapeutics
Congrats to #UCDavisIPN Director @deolsonlab.bsky.social, named in this year's Blavatnik National Awards for Young Scientists for work on how #psychedelics promote #neuroplasticity & engineering non-hallucinogenic analogues toward safer treatments for neuropsychiatric & neurodegenerative conditions.
David E. Olson | Blavatnik Awards for Young Scientists
blavatnikawards.org
#UCDavisIPN Director @deolsonlab.bsky.social , affiliates @tantillogroup.bsky.social and Oliver Fiehn, and their teams just published a new study in @pnas.org deconstructing the ergoline core of LSD. Read the study: www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...
Deconstruction of lysergic acid diethylamide | PNAS
Of the classic psychedelics, lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD) is perhaps the best-known, but its complex chemical architecture has limited syntheti...
pnas.org
New clinical trial out of Toronto published in @jama.com found that IV #ketamine significantly reduced depression symptoms in people with treatment-resistant #bipolardepression, outperforming a placebo with no cases of mania or psychosis. Read more:
jamanetwork.com
#UCDavisIPN Director @deolsonlab.bsky.social covers a lot of ground on @acs.org's Chain Reaction podcast. Find out more about ketamine as an anti-depressant, psychoplastogens, non-hallucinogenic psychedelic analogues, and zalsupindole! Listen or read here:
acs.org
#UCDavisIPN Affiliate Danielle Stolzenberg weighs in on a new piece digging into why so many midlife women are turning to #microdosing mushrooms for #menopause symptoms. She notes that many women feel underserved by conventional care and are turning to experimental self-medication. Read more here:
The Midlife Microdosing Boom: Why Women Are Trying Magic Mushrooms
Why midlife women are microdosing psilocybin for menopause stress, focus and mood—and what experts say about safety and risks.
theflowspace.com
Don't miss #UCDavisIPN affiliate @manvir.bsky.social's presentation at States of Consciousness this October. Check out the other speakers and register at psychedelics.berkeley.edu/soc-conference #StatesofConsciousness2026 @scipsychedelics.bsky.social
States of Consciousness: Psychedelic Discovery and the Edge of Uncertainty - UC Berkeley Center for the Science of Psychedelics
States of Consciousness (October 14-15, 2026) is a two-day multidisciplinary conference at UC Berkeley exploring the evolving questions and uncertainty around the study of consciousness through the le...
psychedelics.berkeley.edu
#UCDavisIPN Affiliates @tantillogroup.bsky.social and @shawshankrxn.bsky.social published a new way to build chiral aromatic 5-membered heterocycles, unlocking potential for replacing flat heteroarenes with tetrahedral stereogenic centers. Find out why it matters for #medicinalchemistry:
Reaction rounds up atoms into unusual cyclic compounds
Chiral aromatic heterocycles could be novel motifs in drug candidates
cen.acs.org
From NIH's Zarate lab: a new study in Nature compared HNK, #psilocybin, LSD, and DOI in human stem cell-derived neurons. Despite hitting different receptors, all produced similar gene expression shifts, dipping at 6 hours then rebounding by 24 with increased synapse formation. Read the study:
Time-dependent effects of rapid-acting antidepressants in iPSC-derived neurons from treatment-resistant depression and healthy volunteers - Molecular Psychiatry
Molecular Psychiatry - Time-dependent effects of rapid-acting antidepressants in iPSC-derived neurons from treatment-resistant depression and healthy volunteers
nature.com
#UCDavisIPN Affiliate Richard McKenney co-authored a new study in Science Magazine (Advances) revealing how the kinesin-1 protein switches on and off inside nerve cells. Learning more about these structures could influence future drug discovery. Read the press release: #neuroscience #ALS
‘Enchanted Broomstick’ Protein Walks on Two Stubby Legs to Keep Our Nerve Cells Alive
A nerve cell resembles a vast tree with branches that communicate with thousands of other cells. To function, it depends on a motor protein that walks on two legs, hauling urgent cargo from the center...
ucdavis.edu
Cognitive scientist Félix Schoeller and his team built an AI platform called Lucy that trains #psychedelic assisted therapy facilitators using thousands of anonymized real support calls, generating simulations of people in altered states so clinicians can practice before working with clients.
How we’re using AI tools to improve psychedelic-drug research
Félix Schoeller’s team built a realistic artificial-intelligence chatbot to train facilitators needed for research into psychoactive drugs — and, ultimately, to improve public health.
nature.com
The #UCDavisIPN was featured on KCRA3 last week! Check out Director @deolsonlab.bsky.social discussing how non-hallucinogenic #psychedelic compounds like JRT could revolutionize mental health treatment for schizophrenia.
LSD-like drug and magnet therapy: Sacramento explores new treatments for depression
Doctors in Sacramento are using transcranial magnetic stimulation and experimental drugs inspired by psychedelics to address depression and other mental health challenges.
kcra.com
New from #UCDavisIPN Director @deolsonlab.bsky.social: R-MDDMA is a safer MDMA analogue that retains its therapeutic potential for promoting #neuroplasticity, facilitating fear extinction, and producing antidepressant-like effects, without the abuse liability, hyperthermia, or cardiac risks.
R-MDDMA is a Safer Analogue of MDMA with Therapeutic Potential
Recent clinical evidence suggests that racemic 3,4-methylenedioxymethamphetamine (MDMA) might be useful for treating a range of neuropsychiatric diseases including post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD...
doi.org
A new The Philadelphia Inquirer investigation found that smoke shops in the Philadelphia area are selling unregulated #psychedelic products, and the results are alarming. Lab tests revealed fabricated safety reports, banned hallucinogens, and synthetic compounds with unknown health effects.
Some Philadelphia-area smoke shops sell unregulated psychedelics that often mislead customers
Philadelphia is a wonderland for unregulated “magic mushrooms.” Trip at your own risk.
inquirer.com
New research published in @natureportfolio.nature.com - Medicine out of @ucsanfrancisco.bsky.social reveals a shared brain signature across classic #psychedelics: flattened cortical hierarchy, increased subcortical-cortical coupling, and less "network disintegration" than previously thought.
An international mega-analysis of psychedelic drug effects on brain circuit function - Nature Medicine
Analysis of neuroimaging datasets across five major psychedelics revealed a shared brain signature and provides a comprehensive insight into how these drugs reorganize brain architecture.
nature.com
Read about #UCDavisIPN Director @deolsonlab.bsky.social and his team's latest research published in @cellpress.bsky.social. With the labs of David Nagib and Mark Levin, the team utilized a new method of skeletal editing to convert LSD into a new analogue with lower hallucinogenic potential.
Skeletal editing by iron-catalyzed carbene insertion of trichloromethanes
DeMuynck and colleagues describe a new, iron-catalyzed method for carbene insertion of trichloromethanes into a diverse range of indoles. By harnessing commercially available trichloromethane reagents...
cell.com
#UCDavisIPN Director @deolsonlab.bsky.social and Assoc. Director John Gray, are featured in a new @newyorker.com article exploring the science behind why mind-altering drugs (and non-hallucinogenic #psychedelic analogues) can have lasting therapeutic effects. Read the story here:
Why Do Mind-Altering Drugs Make People Feel Better?
Scientists want to redesign psychedelics so that they don’t induce a trip—but they still improve mental health.
newyorker.com
A new clinical trial in JAMA Network Open compares psilocybin-assisted therapy vs. nicotine patches for smoking cessation. Participants who received a single dose of #psilocybin alongside CBT had over 6× greater odds of quitting smoking at 6 months compared with those using nicotine patches.
Psilocybin or Nicotine Patch for Smoking Cessation
This pilot randomized clinical trial compares prolonged smoking abstinence rates in smokers receiving psilocybin with those receiving the nicotine patch with both groups receiving manualized smoking c...
jamanetwork.com
This week in neurotherapeutics and women's health: A new study in @natureportfolio.nature.com - npj Women’s Health used genetic approaches to test whether targeting estrogen receptors affects Alzheimer’s risk, brain structure, depression, or anxiety. Read what they found here:
Menopausal hormone therapy and risk of neuropsychiatric disease: a drug target Mendelian randomisation study - npj Women's Health
npj Women's Health - Menopausal hormone therapy and risk of neuropsychiatric disease: a drug target Mendelian randomisation study
nature.com
#UCDavisIPN affiliate Aijun Wang and his team have published first-in-human results in @thelancet.com demonstrating the safety of a novel stem cell therapy delivered before birth for spina bifida.
Feasibility and safety of cellular therapy for in-utero repair of myelomeningocele (CuRe Trial): a first-in-human, phase 1, single-arm study
This first-in-human treatment consisting of allogeneic, live stem cells showed no cell-related adverse effects. The therapy was assessed as sufficiently safe to proceed with non-staggered enrolment of...
thelancet.com
#UCDavisIPN Affiliate Aijun Wang and his team released a new study in @acs.org - Nano highlighting how engineering simplified extracellular vesicle mimetics can help uncover which surface proteins actually drive neuroprotective effects. 1/2
Prototyping Minimal Extracellular Vesicle Mimetics Using Cell-Free Synthesis
The many surface proteins on extracellular vesicles (EVs) allow them to target recipient cells and modulate cellular responses. Despite their importance, relating surface protein and EV function is challenging due to surface protein heterogeneity. Here, we create a bottom-up, cell-free protein-synthesis platform to engineer artificial nanovesicles (ANVs) that display different EV surface protein domains. The platform is termed VESSEL (Vesicle Engineering Systems using Synthetic Expression and Loading). The surface proteins are selected based on proteomics data of native EVs from placental mesenchymal stem cells (PMSCs). To create VESSEL, we establish a protein anchor based on the bacteria membrane protein Aquaporin-Z. This anchor allows the flexible and cell-free protein synthesis of 39 different EV surface protein domains, each anchoring into more than 108 ANVs per μL. Furthermore, we measure the ANVs using high-fidelity assays, including single-ANV flow cytometry, super-resolution imaging, and vesicle-based ELISA. Next, we show the impact of each EV surface protein on cellular uptake. Specifically, we find that certain EV surface protein domains govern ANV uptake into HEK293FT cells, explaining the variable observations in the field. We discovered new proteins, such as CADM1 and NPTN, that mediate high-efficiency cellular uptake. Additionally, five proteins were selected for our neuroprotection assay, where three proteins were significant in increasing SH-SY5Y neurite growth. Our work demonstrates a high-throughput cell-free synthesis platform for studying surface proteins of EVs. It enables the systematic interrogation of EV’s function as “signalosomes” and facilitates the designing of well-defined EV mimetics to mediate cellular function.
pubs.acs.org
Out of @kingscollegelondon.bsky.social and @exeter.ac.uk comes new evidence that the intensity of the #ketamine “high” doesn’t predict treatment success for people with alcohol use disorder. What seems to matter more are the underlying neurobiological effects, not the subjective experience.
The psychoactive effects of repeated ketamine infusions and their mechanistic role in the treatment of alcohol use disorder: Secondary analysis of a randomised controlled trial - PubMed
People with alcohol use disorder experience alterations in consciousness from 0.8 mg/kg intravenous ketamine administration. Ketamine's effects appear to be broadly consistent across three repeated infusions. Ketamine-related reductions in alcohol consumption do not appear to be mediated by the acut …
pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov
New research in @pnas.org offers fresh insight into how brain connections are lost in #Alzheimer’s disease. The study finds that C4d, a molecule linked to the immune system, increases with age and Alzheimer’s, and can directly trigger the removal of synapses, the connections between neurons.
C4d, a high-affinity LilrB2 ligand, is elevated in Alzheimer’s disease and mediates synapse pruning | PNAS
Synapse pruning sculpts neural circuits throughout life. The human Leukocyte immunoglobulin-like receptor type B2 (LilrB2)/murine Paired immunoglob...
pnas.org
#UCDavisIPN Director @deolsonlab.bsky.social on efforts to bring ibogaine therapy to WA State: The potential for treating #addiction, #PTSD, and #TBI is compelling, but federal legality and limited clinical data remain real barriers. Promising therapies still need rigorous science and safety first.
State Sen. Jesse Salomon Wants to Bring Ibogaine Therapy to Washington
State Sen. Jesse Salomon, Washington's mushrooms legislator, wants to broaden the state's psychedelic horizons with Ibogaine therapy, a drug that supposedly acts as an almost miracle balm for psychic ...
thestranger.com
This week in #psychedelic science: A new @natureportfolio.nature.com paper disentangles how psychedelics work at the 5-HT2A receptor. The study shows that Gi signaling drives hallucination-like effects, while Gq signaling underlies therapeutic outcomes. Read the study:
Psychedelics elicit their effects by 5-HT2A receptor-mediated Gi signalling - Nature
Psychedelics and their non-hallucinogenic analogues were compared, revealing that serotonin 2A receptor (5-HT2AR)-mediated Gi signalling is essential for hallucinogenic effect, with the functional mec...
nature.com
New in @natureportfolio.nature.com - Communications from #UCDavisIPN Affiliate Heike Wulff: Researchers report the first high-resolution cryo-EM structures explaining how small-molecule activators selectively target the KCa2.2 potassium channel.
Structural basis for the subtype-selectivity of KCa2.2 channel activators - Nature Communications
Activators of KCa2.2 channels constitute potential novel treatments for neurologic disorders. Here, authors report cryo-EM structures of activator-bound channels, providing a framework for structure-b...
nature.com
#UCDavisIPN affiliate Danielle Stolzenberg spoke with the Mind & Matter podcast about the neurobiology of maternal care and her research on psilocybin exposure during the postpartum period. Check it out!
Stress & Psilocybin: Effects on Maternal Care & Offspring Development | Danielle Stolzenberg | 270
Neurobiology of maternal care in mammals: hormonal influences, stress effects & a study on psilocybin's unexpected effects during the postpartum period.
mindandmatter.substack.com
Check out the new research from #UCDavisIPN trainees Joseph Beckett and Trey Brasher, introducing a light-driven way to convert amino acids into psychedelic-inspired molecules. These compounds engage the serotonin system and may represent a new class of non-hallucinogenic neurotherapeutics.
Creating Hallucination-free, Psychedelic-like Molecules by Shining Light on Life’s Basic Building Blocks
UC Davis researchers have developed a new method that uses light to transform amino acids — the building blocks of proteins — into molecules that are similar in structure to psychedelics and mimic the...
lettersandsciencemag.ucdavis.edu
Congratulations to #UCDavisIPN Affiliate and Brain and Behavior Research Foundation grant recipient Alex Nord and the team behind JRT, a non-hallucinogenic analogue of LSD. Their work has been named one of BBRF’s leading research achievements of 2025.
2025 Leading Research Achievements | Brain & Behavior Research Foundation
We are pleased to present you with the 2025 Leading Research Achievements by BBRF Grantees, Prize Winners & Scientific Council Members.
bbrfoundation.org
#UCDavisIPN affiliate Richard Maddock published a meta-analysis that identified a difference in brain choline levels in people with anxiety versus those without. Maddock's team found that brain choline levels in people with anxiety were 8% lower than their non-anxious peers. Read the paper here:
Transdiagnostic reduction in cortical choline-containing compounds in anxiety disorders: a 1H-magnetic resonance spectroscopy meta-analysis - Molecular Psychiatry
Molecular Psychiatry - Transdiagnostic reduction in cortical choline-containing compounds in anxiety disorders: a 1H-magnetic resonance spectroscopy meta-analysis
nature.com
#UCDavisIPN Affiliates and Ph.D. students Joseph Beckett and Trey Brasher, together with their research advisor and senior author Mark Mascal, have published new research in the Journal of the American Chemical Society using a light-driven chemical reaction to make psychedelic-inspired molecules.
Transforming Amino Acids into Serotonin 5-HT2A Receptor Ligands Using Photochemistry
A light-induced cyclization via a radical spin-center shift process that results in the direct functionalization of the indole ring at the C4-position is developed into a practical method for the synt...
pubs.acs.org