Research

Research

Daily Field Notes on emerging psychedelic clinical trials and pharmacology — N,N-DMT, 5-MeO-DMT, ayahuasca, ibogaine, and related tryptamines. Coverage of preprints, peer-reviewed papers from PubMed, and the major research centres (Imperial, MAPS, Beckley, Cybin, Usona). Receptor pharmacology, biased agonism, deuterated analogues, and the translation of psychedelic compounds from bench to clinic. Independent, evidence-led, primary sources cited.

Extended-state DMT infusion: three decades almost-but-not-quite attempted

Extended-state DMT infusion: three decades almost-but-not-quite attempted

There is something faintly poignant about the extended-state protocol's career: pharmacokinetically straightforward, clinically demanding, ethically complex, and philosophically loaded, all at once.

May 21, 2026 · 4 min read

DMT in a Parkinson's model: Madrid group returns with fuller claims

DMT in a Parkinson's model: Madrid group returns with fuller claims

The Madrid group — Morales-García, López-Moreno, Calleja-Conde, and colleagues — return to Experimental Neurology with what appears to be their most developed account yet of DMT's neuroprotective potential in a preclinical model of Parkinson's disease.

May 20, 2026 · 3 min read

Strassman's IV DMT protocol: the dataset that still sets the dose

Strassman's IV DMT protocol: the dataset that still sets the dose

Rick Strassman's DMT studies were not the first to administer the compound to humans; that distinction belongs to the Hungarian chemist and psychiatrist Stephen Szára, who injected himself with it in 1956.

May 19, 2026 · 4 min read

DMT on VTA Ih-negative neurons: sex-dependent firing changes in reward circuitry

DMT on VTA Ih-negative neurons: sex-dependent firing changes in reward circuitry

A group at the University of Exeter has turned its electrodes on a rather specific neuronal population: the Ih-negative cells of the ventral tegmental area.

May 18, 2026 · 3 min read

Manske to Szára: DMT's twenty-five years as a compound without a question

Manske to Szára: DMT's twenty-five years as a compound without a question

Manske's synthesis appeared in 1931, published in the Canadian Journal of Research, as part of a broader programme of work on tryptamine derivatives.

May 18, 2026 · 4 min read

Lempel–Ziv complexity is the weakest correlate: Exeter's dose-dependent DMT EEG study

Lempel–Ziv complexity is the weakest correlate: Exeter's dose-dependent DMT EEG study

Lewis-Healey, Pallavicini, Cavanna and colleagues have now published, in the Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience, a dose-dependent EEG study of inhaled freebase DMT that carries a rather pointed conclusion:

May 17, 2026 · 3 min read

DMT for Parkinson's: Sigma-1 Neuroprotection in a 6-OHDA Model

DMT for Parkinson's: Sigma-1 Neuroprotection in a 6-OHDA Model

Calleja-Conde and Morales-García extend the Madrid group's DMT–sigma-1 neuroprotection case into a Parkinson's model. Suggestive, not yet definitive — but building.

May 16, 2026 · 3 min read

DMT shows neuroprotective effects in a Parkinson's rat model — a Madrid group extends its σ1R hypothesis

DMT shows neuroprotective effects in a Parkinson's rat model — a Madrid group extends its σ1R hypothesis

Could DMT protect dopamine neurons? A new preclinical study from Madrid says yes — at least in rats. Here's what the data show, what the σ1R–NRF2 mechanism implies, and why translation to human Parkinson's remains an open question.

May 15, 2026 · 4 min read

Ayahuasca Alkaloids in Hair: A New Long-Window Exposure Biomarker

Ayahuasca Alkaloids in Hair: A New Long-Window Exposure Biomarker

Santos et al. validate a hair-analysis method for DMT and β-carbolines — turning a single strand into a months-long record of ayahuasca exposure.

May 14, 2026 · 4 min read

Szára's 1956 self-experiment: the Budapest dose that launched DMT research

Szára's 1956 self-experiment: the Budapest dose that launched DMT research

Cold War Hungary, 1956: Stephen Szára couldn't get LSD, so he made DMT and dosed himself. Modern psychedelic research began that afternoon.

May 13, 2026 · 3 min read

Can Halogenated DMT Analogues Be Non-Hallucinogenic? G-Protein Bias

Can Halogenated DMT Analogues Be Non-Hallucinogenic? G-Protein Bias

A preprint shows 2-chloro and 2-bromo DMT analogues display G-protein bias at 5-HT2A — relevant to the hunt for non-hallucinogenic psychedelics.

May 12, 2026 · 4 min read

Long-Term Ayahuasca: Personality Shifts, Cognition Intact (Bouso)

Long-Term Ayahuasca: Personality Shifts, Cognition Intact (Bouso)

Bouso compares chronic ayahuasca users with cannabis users and non-users: personality differs across groups, cognitive function is spared.

May 12, 2026 · 3 min read

← Return to homepage