Why are psychiatrists taking a fresh look at MDMA? Recently, there's been growing excitement in the scientific community about revisiting the potential medical benefits of psychedelic drugs that have been off limits for decades. Scientists are discovering or rediscovering applications of psilocybin, LSD, MDMA, and other compounds for treating people with depression, anxiety, and post-traumatic stress disorder.

The Wu Tsai Neurosciences Institute has several leading experts paving the way in this field, including today's guest, Robert Malenka. Beginning in the 1980s, Malenka pioneered neuroscientists' understanding of how our brain circuits to change with experience by uncovering fundamental mechanisms of synaptic plasticity. More recently, his laboratory at Stanford has explored the brain's so-called "reward circuitry," including its role in social behavior and empathy and its response to  drugs such as MDMA.

Malenka is Nancy Friend Pritzker Professor of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at Stanford and a Deputy Director of the Wu Tsai Neurosciences Institute where he co-directs the NeuroChoice Initiative, which takes an interdisciplinary approach to understanding human decision making and the science of addiction.

Links

Heifets & Malenka, "MDMA as a Probe and Treatment for Social Behaviors." Cell (2016)

Heifets, et al., "Distinct neural mechanisms for the prosocial and rewarding properties of MDMA." Science Translational Medicine (2019)

Multidisciplinary Association for Psychedelic Studies (MAPS)

Wu Tsai Neurosciences Institute NeuroChoice Initiative

More on Malenka's work

"5 Questions: Robert Malenka on Ecstasy research" (Stanford Medicine, 2016)

"Being a Neuroscientist: A conversation with veteran Stanford brain researcher Rob Malenka" (Stanford Medicine Scope Blog, 2018)

"Social aversion during opioid withdrawal reflects blocked serotonin cues, mouse study finds" (Wu Tsai Neurosciences Institute, 2022)

Episode Credits

This episode was produced by Michael Osborne, with production assistance by Morgan Honaker and Christian Haigis, and hosted by Nicholas Weiler. Cover art by Aimee Garza.

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