Psychedelics and plasticity: from synapses to cognition

Linda Simmler obtained her PhD in Pharmacology in 2013 from the University of Basel, investigating amphetamine-type designer drugs in the laboratory of Prof. Matthias Liechti. From 2013 to 2015, Linda Simmler was a post-doctoral fellow at Vanderbilt University in Nashville, USA, in the laboratory of Prof. Randy Blakely and supported by the Swiss National Science Foundation (SNSF). She investigated serotonin-mediated effects of cocaine using a knock-in mouse model with a cocaine-insensitive serotonin-transporter. In 2016, Simmler joined the laboratory of Prof. Christian Lüscher, where she obtained a SNSF Ambizione grant: She continued her research on drugs of abuse, focusing on drug-induced synaptic changes and the potential of psychoactive substances like ketamine for the treatment of psychiatric disorders. Since August 2023, Linda Simmler is an Assistant Professor, funded by an SNSF Starting Grant. Her research focuses on synaptic plasticity in the context of antidepressant effects of psilocybin and other psychedelics.

Frederick Streeter Barrett, Ph.D. holds the Oliver Lee McCabe III, Ph.D. Professorship in the Neuropsychopharmacology of Consciousness and is the Director of the Johns Hopkins Center for Psychedelic and Consciousness Research. Dr. Barrett has been conducting psychedelic research at Johns Hopkins University since 2013. His research in heathy participants and in patients with mood and substance use disorders focuses on the psychological and neurobiological mechanisms underlying the acute subjective and enduring therapeutic effects of psychedelic drugs. Dr. Barrett has published first-in-human studies of the acute and enduring effects of classic psychedelics and atypical hallucinogens on emotion, decision making, and brain function, and he has developed scientific instruments and published foundational papers on the psychometric evaluation of both mystical and challenging experiences evoked by psychedelic drugs. Dr. Barrett has also served as a member of the Institutional Review Boards of the National Institutes of Health Intramural Research Program and Johns Hopkins Medicine, and he has served on multiple data and safety monitoring boards for clinical trials involving psychedelic drugs as well as the treatment of patients with substance use disorders. Dr. Barrett has been featured on the TEDMED stage and PBS NOVA ,and he has appeared in numerous popular press and news outlets including NPR, CNN, The Washington Post, The Associated Press, The Telegraph, The Hill, Forbes Magazine, Scientific American, Discover Magazine, Business Insider, Vogue, Wired, VICE, Nature Outlook, Scripps Research, and local public radio stations throughout the United States and abroad.

Friederike Holze, PhD, earned her pharmacy degree at the University of Basel, studying there from 2011 to 2016. She then pursued her PhD from 2017 to 2021 in the Psychopharmacology Research Group at the University Hospital Basel, supervised by Professor Matthias Liechti. Her research primarily explores the pharmacology of psychoactive substances such as LSD, psilocybin, and MDMA in healthy subjects. Throughout her studies, she has monitored approximately 200 psychedelic experiences and authored numerous scientific papers. Dr. Holze has also contributed to the scientific and regulatory aspects of a research project examining LSD's potential as an anxiety disorder treatment. She currently holds a postdoctoral position at the Neurobiology Research Unit in Copenhagen, Denmark, under the guidance of Prof. Gitte M. Knudsen, and maintains an affiliation with the University Hospital Basel.