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Dr. Suresh Muthukumaraswamy — LSD Microdosing, Classical Psychedelics vs. Ketamine, Science and Speed in New Zealand, Placebo Options, and The Infinite Possibilities of Studying Mind-Altering Compounds (#619)

  • Tim Ferriss
    • Illustration via 99designs

    “At the 24-hour time point, there’s really no ketamine left in the body at all. The ketamine’s gone, they haven’t been high for 20, 22 hours . . . but they’re still not depressed. What that shows is that the ketamine has changed something in their brain.”

    — Dr. Suresh Muthukumaraswamy

    Dr. Suresh Muthukumaraswamy completed his PhD in Psychology at the University of Auckland in 2005, after which he joined the newly established Cardiff University Brain Research Imaging Centre as a postdoctoral fellow. While at Cardiff, he started research work with psychedelics in 2011 in collaboration with Professor David Nutt and Dr. Robin Carhart-Harris, investigating the neuroimaging correlates of the psychedelic drugs psilocybin and LSD. In 2014, Suresh received a prestigious Rutherford Discovery Fellowship and returned to the University of Auckland where he works in the School of Pharmacy at the Faculty of Medical and Health Sciences and leads the Auckland Neuropsychopharmacology Research Group.

    Suresh’s main research interests are in understanding how therapies alter brain function and behavior and in testing methodologies to measure these changes in both healthy individuals and patient groups—particularly in depressed patients.

    At the University of Auckland, he has conducted clinical trials in depressed patients involving ketamine, scopolamine, and transcranial magnetic stimulation. He has received several Health Research Council of New Zealand research grants to support this work, including a grant to investigate the effects of microdoses of LSD on brain and cognitive function. Suresh has published 117 papers, with his work receiving 8000+ citations.

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    This special episode of the podcast is a live recording from an event hosted by the Edmund Hillary Fellowship (EHF). EHF began in 2016 as a pilot immigration program and has matured into a fellowship of more than 500 technologists, creatives, investors, entrepreneurs, educators, and systems designers, committed to New Zealand as a base camp for global impact. From more than 50 different nationalities, including New Zealand, fellows span a range of high-value sectors: media, education, cleantech, venture capital, and mental health initiatives/research just to name a few.

    EHF and its fellows aim to make a meaningful impact in New Zealand/Aotearoa with projects that often have global applications.

    Please enjoy!

    Listen to the episode on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Overcast, Podcast Addict, Pocket Casts, Castbox, Google Podcasts, Stitcher, Amazon Music, or on your favorite podcast platform.

    The transcript of this episode can be found here. Transcripts of all episodes can be found here.

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    #619: Dr. Suresh Muthukumaraswamy — LSD Microdosing, Classical Psychedelics vs. Ketamine, Science and Speed in New Zealand, Placebo Options, and The Infinite Possibilities of Studying Mind-Altering Compounds

    Want to hear an episode that further explores psychoactive substances? Have a listen to this conversation between Hamilton Morris and Dr. Mark Plotkin, in which they discuss microdosing, 5-MeO-DMT, the “Drunken Monkey” hypothesis, Timothy Leary’s legacy, synthetic versus natural compounds, the history of psychoactive substances, and much more.

    #605: Hamilton Morris and Dr. Mark Plotkin — Exploring the History of Psychoactive Substances, Synthetic vs. Natural Options, Microdosing, 5-MeO-DMT, The “Drunken Monkey” Hypothesis, Timothy Leary’s Legacy, and More

    SELECTED LINKS FROM THE EPISODE

    University of Auckland

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