Projects

PsiConnect Study

• Status: Complete, with multiple outputs under review.
• Australia’s first psychedelic imaging trial, investigating interactions between psilocybin, brain connectivity, context and behaviour in healthy adults.
• World’s largest fMRI dataset collected under psychedelics to date by sample size (N = 65).
• Extensive baseline imaging and imaging under the effects of 19 mg psilocybin using both MRI and EEG, with before and longitudinal after behavioural measures.
• Large supportive interdisciplinary team including Leonardo Novelli, Moein Khajehnejad, and Adeel Razi.
• This research reveals a subject-level signature of the transformative psychedelic state and advanced how we understand context-dependent reorganisation of brain networks during the psychedelic state.

Outputs

• Main paper: Psychedelics Align Brain Activity with Context
• Data descriptor: PsiConnect: A Multimodal Neuroimaging Dataset of Context-Dependent Brain and Behaviour Dynamics under Psilocybin
• Protocol paper (in preparation)
• Out-of-body experience (collab with Olaf Blanke and Fosco Bernasconi) Psilocybin Modulates TPJ Effective Connectivity during Out-of-Body Experiences
• Language and ego dissolution (collab with Greg Cooper and Jeremy Skipper)
• Claustrum connectivity (Navid Shams Masjedi)
• EEG-focused analysis (in preparation)
• Biological Psychiatry review (in preparation)
• Mindset measure validation with Rosalind McAlpine (implemented)
• Brain embeddings across psychedelic substances (in preparation)
• EEG-focused case study (planned)
• Music-related analysis (planned)

Keio University Psilocybin Trial

Lead investigators: Professor Hiroyuki Uchida and Keisuke Kusudo

• Japan’s first serotonergic psychedelic clinical trial, evaluating safety and efficacy of psilocybin in treatment-resistant depression, with low (10 mg) and high (25 mg) doses across multiple sessions.
• Advisory role on trial design, emphasising mindset and contextual factors. Curated therapeutic music playlists tailored to each dosing session.
• Status: Implementation phase.

Psilocybin for Opioid Use Disorder

Untangling Addiction (Wellcome Leap)

• Associated publications forthcoming.
• Status: Design and recruitment phase.

Addiction neurocircuitry targets for Alcohol Use Disorder

With Antonio Verdejo-García, Untangling Addiction (Wellcome Leap)

• Mechanistic targeting of circuits for potential neuromodulation.
• Status: Trial ongoing.

Psilocybin for Food Reward Preference

With Claire Foldi

• fMRI study of reward circuits under psilocybin.
• Status: Design and recruitment phase.

Zurich team collaborations

With Katrin Preller and Franz Vollenweider

• LSD anti-correlation paper
• Psilocybin and visual imagery
• Psilocybin and emotion/cognition

Psilocybin and Meditation Projects

With Otto Simmonson

• Psychedelics and MBCT integration study
• PsiConnect meditation intervention outcome paper (forthcoming)

Predictive Coding Publications

• Neural mechanisms and psychology of psychedelic ego dissolution with Karl Friston, Gary Egan and Adeel Razi.
• Predictive coding precision and psychedelics.