Psychedelics Early Online Release

Dr Claire J. Foldi is an Associate Professor in the Department of Physiology at Monash University, where she leads a multidisciplinary research program investigating the brain circuits that drive anorexia nervosa and other eating disorders. Her work bridges preclinical neuroscience with translational relevance, offering critical insight into the biological mechanisms that underlie psychiatric illness. She is a founding member of the executive of the Australian Eating Disorders Research & Translation Centre (AEDRTC). This role requires extensive collaboration and knowledge exchange with clinicians, service providers, and individuals with lived experience. These positions ensure that her research is both scientifically rigorous and socially relevant. With eating disorders affecting millions and remaining among the most fatal yet poorly understood mental illnesses, Dr Foldi's research addresses a pressing gap: how disruptions in brain pathways involved in reward, self-control, and decision-making contribute to the persistence of disordered eating. Her lab uses advanced neural recording and manipulation tools to map these circuits and explore how novel therapeutics, including psychedelics, may modulate them. Widely recognized for her rigorous yet exploratory approach, Dr. Foldi actively integrates techniques and perspectives from adjacent fields to push the boundaries of eating disorders research. In this Genomics Press interview, she reflects on her unexpected path into the field and how early experimental observations, combined with the rising interest in psychedelic medicine, have positioned her as a leading voice in a new generation of research at the intersection of metabolism, neurobiology, and psychiatry.

Professor Stephen Ross is a prominent faculty member in the Departments of Psychiatry and Child and Adolescent Psychiatry at the New York University (NYU) Grossman School of Medicine who has transformed the landscape of psychedelic research since 2006. In this Genomic Press Interview, Dr. Ross reveals how as co-director of the NYU Langone Center for Psychedelic Medicine and director of its research training program, he has spearheaded groundbreaking clinical trials demonstrating the remarkable efficacy of psilocybin-assisted psychotherapy for treating existential distress in advanced cancer patients, alcohol use disorder, and major depressive disorder. His 2016 landmark study showing rapid, substantial, and enduring improvements in cancer-related anxiety and depression following single-dose psilocybin treatment garnered global attention with 1.7 billion media views. It rejuvenated a dormant field of psychiatric research. Despite early career warnings that psychedelic research was “a road to nowhere,” Dr. Ross persevered to secure the first National Cancer Institute grant for psychedelic research in over 50 years, establishing NYU as a pioneering institution in psychedelic medicine. Throughout his 25-year career at NYU, he has balanced research innovation with clinical leadership, directing Bellevue Hospital's substance abuse division for 12 years, receiving numerous teaching awards, and maintaining a compassion-driven approach inspired by early experiences with hospice care. His current research extends beyond psychiatry into pain management, early-stage cancer interventions, and the potential anti-inflammatory properties of psychedelics, reflecting his commitment to developing novel therapeutics for conditions with substantial unmet needs and public health burden.

In this Genomic Press Interview, Deanna M. Kaplan, PhD, emerges as a pioneering clinical psychologist reshaping how we understand human experience through innovative ambulatory assessment technologies at Emory University School of Medicine, where she serves as Assistant Professor, Director of Health Technologies for Emory's Spiritual Health Program, and Director of the Human Experiences and Ambulatory Technologies (HEAT) Lab. Dr. Kaplan has distinguished herself through groundbreaking methodological contributions, including the development of Fabla. This smartphone application revolutionizes clinical research by securely capturing voice narratives and speech biomarkers in participants' natural environments, currently utilized across multiple research domains from psychedelic-assisted therapies to physician burnout studies. Her interdisciplinary expertise spans ecological momentary assessment, the Electronically Activated Recorder (EAR), and various ambulatory monitoring techniques, with over 50 peer-reviewed publications examining the intersection of daily life experiences, clinical interventions, and digital health technologies. With significant funding from the National Institutes of Health and other organizations, Dr. Kaplan's forward-thinking research addresses critical questions at the nexus of behavioral science and artificial intelligence, emphasizing ethical approaches to voice data analysis that preserve the richness of human subjectivity while leveraging technological advances to enhance understanding of psychological change mechanisms in real-world contexts. A graduate of the University of Arizona (PhD, 2020) with postdoctoral training at Brown University, Dr. Kaplan's innovative research program explores both the transformative potential and ethical challenges of emerging technologies in clinical science, investigating how relationally-focused ambulatory assessment methods can advance personalized interventions while maintaining the essential human elements of care.

Introduction

Launching a new journal is rarely the beginning people imagine it to be. It is not the first word, but the latest entry in a conversation already unfolding; in fits, in fragments, and in contradictions. Psychedelics enters the scholarly domain not with a thesis, but with a question: How should we think, write, and research consciousness in a landscape where definitions erode faster than they are drawn?

From the outset, our journal's indexed title, Psychedelics, has served a practical purpose. It signaled the core of our focus: compounds that alter perception, interrogate the self, and

Establishing validity standards for iPSC modeling of neuropsychiatric disorders

Nikki Kolsters,

Anthony C. Vernon,

Nael Nadif Kasri, and

Brooke L. Latour

Claire Foldi: Unravelling the neurobiology of eating disorders to inform effective treatments

Stephen Ross: Psychedelic-assisted therapies for difficult-to-treat psychiatric and medical disorders

Deanna M. Kaplan: Listening to daily life: exploring speech data, shared meaning, and generative artificial intelligence (AI) in clinical science

Erin Mauney: Psychedelics as modulators of the gut-brain interaction

Michael A. Wheeler: Psychedelics and neuroimmune circuits—what a strange trip, indeed

Psychedelics, Yes—but Not Only: Redefining the boundaries of consciousness research as part of humanity's ongoing attempt to transcend our incompleteness

Introduction

Single-dose psychedelic enhances cognitive flexibility and reversal learning in mice weeks after administration

Katarina Leão: Links between the auditory and limbic systems, with a focus on the effects of unconventional novel treatment options, such as psychedelics and cannabis extract

Establishing validity standards for iPSC modeling of neuropsychiatric disorders

Mateus Vidigal de Castro: Cellular and genetic determinants of healthy aging and disease resilience

Randy J. Nelson: Disruption of circadian rhythms on brain function and health

Xuyu Qian: Understanding human brain development and diseases using human-based approaches

Mirko Manchia: Exploring the biological landscape of psychiatric disorders to innovate clinical management with precision medicine approaches