With growing scientific interest in the area of psychedelics, Duke University has launched the Center for Integrated Psychedelic Science (CIPS).
The centre will be a multidisciplinary collaboration that it sates will explore the mechanistic, phenomenological, therapeutic, and relational effects of psychedelic compounds.
The CIPS’ drugs of focus will include classic hallucinogens including psilocybin, LSD, mescaline, DMT, ayahuasca, as well as the dissociative ketamine and the entactogen MDMA.
Researchers at CIPS will be investigating psychedelics in neurobiology, how they can enhance creativity, meaning, connection and spirituality, and will be developing, testing and implementing novel mental health therapies.
It will be investigating the role of psychedelics in consciousness in order to understand dimensions of consciousness and phenomenal states.
The centre states: “We envision a world where psychedelics are governed by rigorous scientific investigation in academic, clinical, and industry settings; are understood in accord with their cultural history, science, and value at the individual, societal, and economic level; are made universally available for safe, legal, and beneficial use; and promote health and well-being across the lifespan, as well as foster personal development and human potential.”
The centre already has two ongoing studies. The first survey is investigating the use of psychedelics in the general population, aiming to explore positive and negative correlates of psychedelics, such as characteristics of desirable and undesirable effects from the experience, expectations for hallucinogenic or mystical experiences and motivations underlying use.
The second study is investigating psilocybin-associated changes in functional brain network organisation. This study will look at 20 healthy volunteers using state-of-the-art, precision neuroscience techniques.
Data collection measures will include resting state functional magnetic resonance imaging and electroencephalography, blood sampling to detect presence and change in psilocybin as well as other potential biomarkers of interest and valid scales to assess participants’ psychedelic experience, as well as emotions and creativity.
To facilitate the advancement of psychedelic science, the centre is also partnered with a number of different institutes to carry out its research, including Duke University School of Medicine, the Duke Institute for Brain Sciences, the University of Toronto the University of California Santa Barbara and the University of North Carolina, among others.
Additionally, it will be leveraging a number of different resources for its work including Investigational Drug Services in the Department of Pharmacy at Duke University Health System for clinical research, the Duke University Medical Center Brain Imaging and Analysis Center (BIAC) and the world’s largest academic clinical research organisation, the Duke Clinical Research Institute (DCRI).
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