Advancing psychedelic discovery for the public good.
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UC Berkeley Psychedelics PLASTICITY Study Launches to Explore Psilocybin and Healthy Aging
Researchers have begun enrolling participants in a new study investigating how psilocybin may affect memory, perception, emotion, and brain structure and function in healthy older adults.
Tripping into Old Age: Can Psychedelics Protect the Aging Brain?
In a new study, UC Berkeley researchers are investigating whether psilocybin can support healthy aging by boosting plasticity in the brains of older adults.
Can Psilocybin Promote Successful Aging? Q&A with BCSP Researchers
A Q&A with the principal researchers behind a study exploring a promising potential use of psilocybin: to promote successful aging of healthy older adults.
A Neuroscientist Describes Your Brain on Psychedelics in 101 Seconds
Watch UC Berkeley Professor Michael Silver describe how recording the brains of people on psychedelics could transform our understanding of human consciousness.
Psychedelics 101
New to psychedelics?
Have a look at one of our many primers.
What Are Psychedelics?
Our primer on classic and non-classic psychedelic substances, including psilocybin, LSD, ketamine, and more.
What Are the Risks? Ask Experts.
How should you choose a psychedelic therapist? What do “set and setting” mean? How should a trip sitter prepare for the experience? Experts answer these questions and more.
Microdosing—Does It Work?
Interest in psychedelics is growing fast, but legal use—either through a clinical trial or psychedelic therapy—can be complicated.
Psychedelics and Spirituality
People have used psychedelics to commune with the divine and create bonds among the living and the dead, the spiritual and the natural worlds for centuries and possibly millennia.
About BCSP
BCSP is an academic center focused on psychedelic research and public education. Explore our areas of focus.
Psychedelic Research
We bring together researchers from across disciplines, including neuroscience, molecular biology, psychology, chemistry, and genetics, and experts in public policy, law, health economics, and religion.
Journalism and Public Education
BCSP’s public education program produces evidence-based, objective journalism, conversations, and courses about psychedelics.
News
Keep current on the latest news about our public education and research programs, plus the latest news from the field of psychedelics.
Listen to the BCSP on KQED Forum
Tune in with as Michael Silver, director of the BCSP, Marlena Robbins, the program coordinator for the Indigenous Student Research Fellowship, and Berra Yazar-Klosinski, former chief scientific officer at Lykos Therapeutics, discuss what RFK Jr.’s support for psychedelic therapy means for its future.
Gül Dölen in The New York Times
Gül Dölen, professor and the Bob & Renee Parsons Endowed Chair in the Department of Neuroscience and Department of Psychology, and Senior Scientific Advisory for the BCSP, spoke about her theory that psychedelics might open a window of enhanced motor learning after a stroke.
SF Chronicle on new moms and psychedelics
Elena Kadvany writes about Reunion Neuroscience’s clinical trials providing psychedelic treatment for postpartum depression. Michael Silver, director of the BCSP, is quoted in the article. Rather than symptom management, he said, psychedelics might offer “something more like permanent or at least long-lasting, durable changes that are more like healing.”
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Keep up with the latest news from the UC Berkeley Center for the Science of Psychedelics by subscribing to our email newsletter. Find out about our research studies, public programming and other announcements.
Subscribe to The Microdose
The Microdose delivers twice-weekly newsletters, featuring Q&As with newsmakers and the latest developments in the field of psychedelics, covering everything from scientific research and policy to business and culture.
Tools and Resources
Tools and resources to help you navigate the psychedelic renaissance.
Law and Policy Map
Track proposed and enacted legislation of psychedelics across the U.S.
Patent Tracker
BCSP has created a patent tracker that uses publicly available data gathered by Psychedelic Alpha, an independent community working in the psychedelic space.
Clinical Trials Map
Figuring out how to participate in psychedelic-assisted therapy as either a therapist or a patient can be complicated. BCSP’s clinical trials map, featuring data from ClinicalTrials.gov, provides a way to navigate past, ongoing and future trials.