Psychedelic Brain Science

Mar 09 2025 57 ep. 42 mins 128

Psychedelic Brain Science Podcast artwork

Psychedelic Brain Science is a multimedia approach dedicated to bringing scientific, psychological, anthropological, and cultural information as it relates to psychedelics. Join scientists Alaina M. Jaster, PhD and Zarmeen Zahid, PhD as they work to provide better understanding of the ongoing research about psychedelics. Content only reflects opinions of the authors and does not reflect the opinion of others or author affiliations.

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Science Under Threat! ft. Dr. Hilary Marusak & Dr. Christine Rabinak

Mar 09 2025 59 mins

In this special episode of Psychedelic Brain Science, Dr. Alaina Jaster is joined by Dr. Hilary Marusak, host of BrainSTEM and Principle Investigator in the THINK lab at Wayne State University. They are also joined by Dr. Christine Rabinak, a world-leading PTSD researcher, who brings a unique perspective on the impact of recent federal funding cuts—not just on scientific innovati

Open Psychedelic Evaluation Nexus ft. Dr. Jason Luoma

Mar 03 2025 48 mins

On this weeks ISRP Speaker Spotlight Alaina is joined by psychologist and co-founder of the Open Psychedelic Evaluation Nexus (OPEN), Dr. Jason Luoma. They discuss evaluation of psychedelic assisted therapy in the real world following legalization in Portland, Oregon.Register for ISRP at https://www.ISRPsych.org to catch Dr. Luoma's presentation March 7 at 4:15 PM EDT / 1:15 PM PDT

Ibogaine & Ocular Dominance Plasticity ft. Alejo Acuña

Feb 24 2025 36 mins

This weeks ISRP Speaker Spotlight is Alejo Acuña, a PhD student in Biology at the Neuroplasticity Unit of the Laboratorio de Neurociencias, University of the Republic, Uruguay. Alejo's project focuses on atypical psychedelic, Ibogaine, and how it can enhance ocular dominance plasticity in the mouse visual cortex, as part of a broader effort to understand its potential role in

Psychedelic Therapy... in Rodents? ft. Kate Lawson

Feb 17 2025 41 mins

This episode is the first of three in our special ISRP Speaker Spotlight series. We've decided to showcase some amazing scientists that will be presenting at the virtual International Society for Psychedelic Research Conference March 7! It's not too late to register at: https://www.isrpsych.org/conferencesOur first feature is Kate Lawson, a PhD student at UC Irvine studying

What is a Psychedelic? ft. Dr. Boris Heifets

Feb 17 2025 63 mins

In this episode, Alaina discusses the evolving language about some of our favorite substances and how we got to the term psychedelic. In the first segment, she highlights some historical names for psychedelic substances in western medicine. In the second segment, she is joined by Stanford anesthesiologist and psychedelic researcher Dr. Boris Heifets to discuss how the scientific fi

Special Episode: Charting a Path Forward ft. Dr. Gill Bedi & Dr. Neşe Devenot

Feb 17 2025 42 mins

This special episode includes presentations from a recent workshop, where Dr. Alaina Jaster, Dr. Neşe Devenot of Johns Hopkins and Dr. Gill Bedi of University of Melbourne presented their expertise and perspectives on how the psychedelic research field can move forward from the recent FDA rejection of MDMA-AT. Dr. Jaster's presentation sets the tone by going over recent events, fo

Seeing Through the Smoke ft. Dr. Peter Grinspoon

Feb 17 2025 54 mins

Alaina is joined by physician, author, activist and educator Dr. Peter Grinspoon to discuss the use of psychedelics and cannabis in recovery, the stigma associated with drug use and the idea of "california sober."Have questions or want to read his book? Check out Dr. Grinspoon's website https://www.petergrinspoon.com/

Psychedelic Circuits: The Amygdala ft. Dr. Devin Effinger

Dec 02 2024 53 mins

This episode is the last of the Psychedelic Circuits mini-series! Today, Alaina gives a brief overview on circuits involved in stress responses. Then Dr. Devin Effinger deep dives into his work with the amygdala, paraventricular nucleus and how these regions send signals to relay important information about threat, stress and more. This circuit goes beyond just anxiety disorders an

Special Episode: Tales from the DEA Hearing ft. Jack Gorsline

Nov 23 2024 102 mins

Welcome to a super extra special episode of Psychedelic Brain Science! Dr. Jaster has finally settled back into real life after spending a week at DEA HQ fighting with Students for Sensible Drug Policy and many other scientists to keep DOI and DOC legal. She's joined today by psychedelic journalist Jack Gorsline, who was embedded with the team. They go through each day and give hig

Psychedelic Circuits: The Spinal Cord ft. Dr. Raul Ramos

Nov 20 2024 53 mins

This episode is the second installment of the mini-series focused on brain circuits outside of the typical frontal cortex conversation. Today, we hear from Alaina on the basics of pain and touch perception, as well as how our nerves send information to our brains. Alaina is then joined by Dr. Raul Ramos of UC Berkeley, an expert on studying sensory modalities who is now focusing th