Translational biomarker development for precision psychedelic medicine in addiction

This research aims to develop multimodal, reliable translational biomarkers to characterise addiction processes and use them to develop psychedelic therapy (PT) in addiction. Building on previous experience, this proposal seeks to develop and validate naturalistic, functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (fMRI) tasks that probe brain systems known to be dysfunctional in individuals with a sub-category of addiction, Gambling Disorder (GD). Further, the proposal also aims to longitudinally evaluate the sensitivity of these fMRI biomarkers to PT as compared with EEG and peripheral biomarkers to explore it's putative multimodal mechanism(s) of action in a pilot, proof-of-concept, experimental medicine study. Leveraging advances in functional imaging, this initiative seeks to build on my PhD and one-year postdoctoral work that aims to transform addiction translational research by being one of the first precision psychedelic medicine studies to date in this indication, giving insights into disease mechanisms and future clinical development. Further, the accelerator award will support skills and development and training in brain imaging analysis, human experimental medicine methodology, internships in leading addiction neuroscience academic groups and exposure to industry research with a psychedelic biopharmaceutical company.