The Centre for Psychedelics Research at Imperial College

This became the world’s first dedicated centre/center for psychedelic research and focuses on the action and clinical use of psychedelics, with a particular focus on researching the treatment of depression. You can read the press release here. The centre has been featured in The New York Times and many other media.

Johns Hopkins Center for Psychedelic and Consciousness Research

This became the world’s largest and the US’s first psychedelic research center. Among other things, researchers there will be investigating the effectiveness of psychedelics as a new therapy for opioid addiction, Alzheimer’s disease, post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), post-treatment Lyme disease syndrome (formerly known as chronic Lyme disease), anorexia nervosa, and alcohol use in people with major depression. You can find the press release here. The New York Times wrote an article about the center and separately profiled Tim Ferriss about the project. Scientific American, Forbes, and The Washington Post covered the center as well. You can find an audio recording of the press conference announcing the launch here.

The Project on Psychedelics Law and Regulation

The Project on Psychedelics Law and Regulation (POPLAR) at the Petrie-Flom Center for Health Law Policy, Biotechnology, and Bioethics at Harvard Law School. POPLAR is the first academic initiative focused on psychedelics law and policy, positioned to be a global leader for research and education in this space. You can find the announcement here. You can read Fox News‘s coverage about POPLAR here and VICE‘s article here.

The Ferriss – UC Berkeley Psychedelic Journalism Fellowship

The Ferriss – UC Berkeley Psychedelic Journalism Fellowship offers fifteen $10,000 reporting grants per year to journalists reporting in-depth print and audio stories on the science, policy, business, and culture of this new era of psychedelics. In addition to underwriting individual stories, the Fellowship aims to establish and nurture a new generation of journalists covering the frontlines of this rapidly changing field. It will be overseen by bestselling author Michael Pollan. You can read the announcement here.

Multidisciplinary Association for Psychedelic Studies (MAPS) for MAPS’ Phase 3 MDMA-assisted psychotherapy trials for PTSD

This is the first time that any psychedelic/entactogen combined with therapy has progressed into FDA-approved Phase 3 trials, with esketamine/Spravato approved for depression without therapy. You can find the MAPS study in Nature Medicine. In this Phase 3 trial of MDMA-assisted therapy for PTSD, 88% of participants who received MDMA in conjunction with trauma-focused therapy experienced a clinically significant reduction in symptoms; 67% of participants no longer met criteria for a PTSD diagnosis at the two-month follow-up (data from the one-year follow-up is not yet available).

In MAPS’ Phase 2 research, 56% of subjects no longer met criteria for a PTSD diagnosis at the two-month follow-up. And at the one-year follow-up, that had increased to 67%. This is unusual and worth noting. The results were durable, and people had learned how to help heal themselves gradually over time. MAPS has also conducted a longer-term follow-up study of some Phase 2 subjects (on average over 3 ½ years since treatment ended), again showing durability of results and a slight further average decline in PTSD symptoms.

Many participants reported MDMA-assisted therapy helped them address the root cause of their trauma for the first time. Articles about the Nature Medicine publication appeared in The New York Times, BBC, Scientific American, Newsweek, CNBC, The Guardian, and more. You can find the press release here. 

The Dog Aging Project

The Dog Aging Project is a scientific initiative to help companion dogs and people live longer, healthier lives together. More than 32,000 companion dogs and their owners are already part of the Dog Aging Project. Led by scientists at the University of Washington and Texas A&M University, the research team includes more than 70 researchers and veterinarians from more than 20 academic institutions around the country. Important to the Saisei Foundation, the Dog Aging Project is also conducting a double-blind, placebo controlled, veterinary clinical trial of the medicine rapamycin, which at low doses has been shown to extend lifespan in laboratory animals. The trial is called TRIAD, an acronym for Test of Rapamycin in Aging Dogs. Read the full announcement here. This follow-up announcement also underscores some of the leverage of this project: Dog Aging Project, a resource for scientists in many fields.

Microdosing with LSD Research

Microdosing with LSD research under the direction of Dr. Suresh Muthukumaraswamy at The University of Auckland. Potential therapeutic implications of this study include future clinical trials to investigate microdosed psychedelics as a standalone treatment or as an augmentation of psychotherapy in the treatment of depression, addiction, eating disorders, obsessive-compulsive disorders, and palliative care. This is the first study of its kind to investigate microdosing where participants microdose at home rather than in supervised laboratory settings.

The Center for Human-Carnivore Coexistence (CHCC) at Colorado State University

The Center for Human-Carnivore Coexistence (CHCC), an academic institution housed at Colorado State University, is focused on integrating transformative science, education, and outreach to minimize conflict and facilitate coexistence between humans and carnivores.

Training for Psychiatrists in Psychedelic Medicine

Physician-scientists at three major U.S. medical schools (Yale School of Medicine, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, and NYU Grossman School of Medicine) will collaborate to develop a curriculum to train psychiatrists in the practice of psychedelic medicine.

As psychedelic-assisted therapies advance toward approval by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, the need to train psychiatrists in these new treatment modalities has become increasingly urgent. Special thanks to Carey and Claudia Turnbull for quarterbacking this and to the institutions jointly developing the program: the Yale University Program for Psychedelic Science, the Johns Hopkins Center for Psychedelic and Consciousness Research, and the NYU Langone Health Center for Psychedelic Medicine. The project has been covered in Business Insider.