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Psychedelic research in support of brain health receives a major boost this month with the formation of the Psychedelic Neuroscape Division at the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF). With $ 6.4 million in private funding, the new division will take a unique translational research approach to integrate cutting-edge neuroscience technology into psychedelic therapy, including through a Phase III MAPS trial for MDMA as a new treatment for post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).
“Our generous funders are taking a big step forward in producing evidence of clinical efficacy and safety for people using psychedelics to treat a wide range of mental health problems, including depression, anxiety, PTSD and addiction, ”says Adam Gazzaley, executive director of Neuroscape, a multidisciplinary research center at UCSF that bridges the gap between neuroscience and technology. “At Neuroscape, we have taken a neuroscience-based closed-loop approach to creating experiential medicine, including the first video game approved by the FDA as a medical therapy. We are excited to apply this same approach to understand how we can provide psychedelic treatments in a more personalized and targeted way. “
Robin Carhart-Harris, one of the world’s most cited researchers in psychedelic science and founder of the first center for psychedelic research at Imperial College London, will lead the new Neuroscape division as founding director. “The creation of this new division is an extremely exciting development in the history of the psychedelic renaissance,” says Carhart-Harris, who is New Distinguished Ralph Metzner Professor of Neurology and Psychiatry at UCSF. “I am delighted to join UCSF and the Neuroscape team and hope to lead this new division to great success.”
More than half a billion people suffer from debilitating mental health issues around the world, creating a pressing need for new clinical tools. Recent years have seen advances in both the clinical validation and the mechanisms of action of specific psychedelic treatments, such as the FDA’s recent breakthrough therapy designation for MDMA and psilocybin to treat PTSD and depression, respectively. However, there is a surprising lack of innovative research into approaches to optimize the delivery of the treatments themselves, specifically exploring the role of context in enhancing the effects of treatment coupled with the recording of neural, psychological and neural data. physiological.
Neuroscape’s new psychedelic division aims to change that by focusing on the contextual elements that shape a patient’s experience. This includes the conditions that exist before, during and after treatments – what has been called in the field “take and place”. This will be accomplished through studies that record the neuronal and physiological state of patients at all of these stages, while tailoring environmental conditions, such as music, light, and smell accordingly.
“This research will allow us to understand whether a particular treatment is well suited to an individual, by evaluating the course of an experience in real time. We aim to dynamically adjust key contextual elements in order to guide patients towards an optimal experience – – thereby maximizing positive long-term and lasting benefits, ”says Jennifer Mitchell, associate professor of neurology and psychiatry at UCSF, who will lead clinical trials on MDMA as a potential treatment for PTSD. allow to deepen the personalized precision of psychedelic treatments. “
The $ 6.4 million funding comes from various private donors including George Goldsmith and Ekaterina Malievskaia, Dominic van Almsick, Drew and Amy McKnight, Tim Ferriss and the George Sarlo Foundation. Goldsmith and Malievskaia donated $ 4 million for the Distinguished Ralph Metzner Professor of Neurology and Psychiatry Endowment at UCSF.
Ralph Metzner was a dedicated researcher, psychedelic therapist, friend and mentor who was part of the original Harvard team that pioneered the psilocybin academic study in the 1960s. We are honored to provide this chair in his name, ”says the donor. George Goldsmith. “As one of the leading scientists of this generation, we are delighted that Robin Carhart-Harris is the inaugural recipient of this chair. We are confident that he and the Neuroscape team will continue to advance innovation to transform mental health care.
“The combination of Neuroscape’s translational approach and Robin Carhart-Harris’s deep experience in psychedelic research makes this a promising and exciting initiative,” says Michael Pollan, author of How to Change Your Mind. “It will help bring us closer to when psychedelic therapy is available to help alleviate the global mental health crisis.”
“I couldn’t be more excited to support the Neuroscape Psychedelics division,” says investor and author Tim Ferriss. “Neuroscape and UCSF are uniquely prepared to answer fundamental questions about psychedelic therapies that have been largely untouched by research to date, and I believe this new effort represents the dream team to explore this extremely promising and complex ground. “
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About Neuroscape
Neuroscape is a translational neuroscience center at UCSF engaged in the creation of technologies and scientific research to better assess and optimize brain function in healthy and impaired individuals. Learn more about Neuroscape’s translational research goals and the current fundraising campaign on our website: https: /
About UCSF
The University of California at San Francisco (UCSF) focuses exclusively on the health sciences and is dedicated to promoting health around the world through advanced biomedical research, higher education in the health sciences life and health professions and excellence in patient care. UCSF Health, which serves as UCSF’s primary academic medical center, includes leading specialty hospitals and other clinical programs, and has affiliations throughout the Bay Area. Learn more at: https: /
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