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Biology & Ethnobotany

Looking back on ICPR 2024 – the leading interdisciplinary conference on psychedelic research

September 13, 2024 / Anthropology & Sociology, Biology & Ethnobotany, Ethics, Humanities & Art, Neuroscience, Pharmacology & Chemistry, Philosophy & Religious Studies, Policy, Law & Economics, Psychiatry & Medicine, Psychology, Technology / By

It’s been 2 months since the leading conference on psychedelic research in Europe, ICPR 2024, took place in Haarlem, the Netherlands. Despite having taken steps to integrate it all, the OPEN foundation team has accepted that we still lack the words to convey what the whole event felt like and meant to us.

Pia Dijkstra – Minister of Healthcare, The Netherlands – Opening ICPR 2024

From combating prejudice and stigma back in 2007 to having not one but two subsequent Ministers of Healthcare lining up to inaugurate ICPR, our mission to advance psychedelic research to benefit science, healthcare and society has come a long way.

At ICPR 2024, we had it all, from Minister from the Netherlands, Pia Dijkstra’s moving opening speech to the heartfelt realities shared by trial participants Maryam Zahra Jabir and Patty B., the Wet Blanket Award for presentations representing rigor and critical thinking’ awarded to Dr. Jamila Hokanson, M.D, MBA, the kind of deep thinking showcased by Leor Roseman, Erik Davis’ magnificent storytelling and accompanying visuals, the important discussions around decolonization curated by Yogi H., and so so so much more.

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You might imagine why the OPEN Foundation & ICPR team was unable to attend most talks on-site. Yet, via the high-quality recordings (more on this will follow), we didn’t miss out. What we saw was consistently great.

Immense effort went into crafting ICPR’s mind-blowing programme. And no doubt those efforts have been worth it. ICPR embodied the true spirit of interdisciplinarity: from clinical trial design, neuroscience, archaeology, integration, psychotherapy, adverse events, spirituality, literary analysis—it was all there.

The programme and ICPR 2024 fulfilled their purpose: to gather and facilitate conversation and connection between open-minded, committed, curious, and caring individuals whose collective perspective creates a critical and constructive narrative for what psychedelics mean moving forward in 21st-century Europe.

Vibrant lunch breaks @ICPR

We are honored and humbled by the ICPR 2024, the progress in the field of psychedelic research and therapy, and what lies ahead. Lastly, gratitude. Gratitude, for our co-creation, persists. Fortunately so, as it’s our fuel to do our part in this ongoing process of integrating psychedelics safely and responsibly into healthcare and society.

Thank you,
The OPEN & ICPR team

And please, a big applause for….. the rockstar volunteers who made ICPR 2024 possible!

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Food Of The Gods: A Radical History of Plants, Psychedelics and Human Evolution

February 4, 2022 / Biology & Ethnobotany / Leave a Comment / By

Food Of The Gods: A Radical History of Plants, Psychedelics and Human Evolution. Terence McKenna. Random House USA. ISBN: 978-0553371307

Renowned ethnobotanist and psychonaut Terence McKenna explores our ancient relationship with organic psychedelics and opens a doorway to a higher state of being for us all. This book will be particularly interesting to those interesting in consciousness. 

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Plants of the Gods: Their Sacred, Healing, and Hallucinogenic Powers

February 3, 2022 / Biology & Ethnobotany, Mushrooms / Psilocybin / Leave a Comment / By

Plants of the Gods: Their Sacred, Healing, and Hallucinogenic Powers. Richard Evans Schultes, Albert Hoffman and Christian Rätsch. Healing Arts Press. ISBN: 978-0892819799

Ritual uses of psychoactive plants; detail the uses of hallucinogens in sacred shamanic rites while providing lucid explanations of the biochemistry of these plants and the cultural prayers, songs, and dances associated with them

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Breaking Open the Head: A Psychedelic Journey into the Heart of Contemporary Shamanism

February 3, 2022 / Biology & Ethnobotany, Pharmacology & Chemistry, Philosophy & Religious Studies / Leave a Comment / By

Breaking Open the Head: A Psychedelic Journey into the Heart of Contemporary Shamanism. Daniel Pinchbeck. Broadway Books. ISBN: 978-0767907439

Daniel Pinchbeck tells the story of the encounters between the modern consciousness of the West and psychedelic substances, including thinkers like Allen Ginsberg, Antonin Artaud, Walter Benjamin, and Terence McKenna, and the new wave present-day ethnobotanists, chemists, psychonauts and philosophers.

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Psilocybin Mushrooms of the World: An Identification Guide

December 24, 2021 / Biology & Ethnobotany, Mushrooms / Psilocybin / Leave a Comment / By

Psilocybin Mushrooms of the World: An Identification Guide. Paul Stamets. Ten Speed Press. ISBN: 978-0898158397

Detailed descriptions and color photographs for over 100 psilocybin-containing mushroom species are provided, as well as an exploration of their long-standing (and often religious) use by ancient peoples and their continued significance to modern-day culture.

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Psilocybin: from ancient magic to modern medicine

May 12, 2020 / Anthropology & Sociology, Anxiety Disorders / PTSD, Biology & Ethnobotany, Depressive Disorders, Humanities & Art, Mushrooms / Psilocybin, Papers, Psychology, Publications / By /

Abstract

Psilocybin (4-phosphoryloxy-N,N-dimethyltryptamine) is an indole-based secondary metabolite produced by numerous species of mushrooms. South American Aztec Indians referred to them as teonanacatl, meaning “god’s flesh,” and they were used in religious and healing rituals. Spanish missionaries in the 1500s attempted to destroy all records and evidence of the use of these mushrooms. Nevertheless, a 16th century Spanish Franciscan friar and historian mentioned teonanacatl in his extensive writings, intriguing 20th century ethnopharmacologists and leading to a decades-long search for the identity of teonanacatl. Their search ultimately led to a 1957 photo-essay in a popular magazine, describing for the Western world the use of these mushrooms. Specimens were ultimately obtained, and their active principle identified and chemically synthesized. In the past 10–15 years several FDA-approved clinical studies have indicated potential medical value for psilocybin-assisted psychotherapy in treating depression, anxiety, and certain addictions. At present, assuming that the early clinical studies can be validated by larger studies, psilocybin is poised to make a significant impact on treatments available to psychiatric medicine.

Nichols, D. E. (2020). Psilocybin: from ancient magic to modern medicine. The Journal of Antibiotics, 1-8., doi.org/10.1038/s41429-020-0311-8
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Salvia divinorum: from recreational hallucinogenic use to analgesic and anti-inflammatory action

March 22, 2019 / Biology & Ethnobotany, Neuroscience, Papers, Pharmacology & Chemistry, Psychiatry & Medicine, Publications, Salvia / Salvinorin A / By / ,

Abstract

Salvia divinorum is a herbal plant native to the southwest region of Mexico. Traditional preparations of this plant have been used in illness treatments that converge with inflammatory conditions and pain. Currently, S. divinorum extracts have become popular in several countries as a recreational drug due to its hallucinogenic effects. Its main active component is a diterpene named salvinorin A (SA), a potent naturally occurring hallucinogen with a great affinity to the κ opioid receptors and with allosteric modulation of cannabinoid type 1 receptors. Recent biochemical research has revealed the mechanism of action of the anti-inflammatory and analgesic effect of SA at the cellular and molecular level. Nevertheless, because of their short-lasting and hallucinogenic effect, the research has focused on discovering a new analogue of SA that is able to induce analgesia and reduce inflammation with a long-lasting effect but without the hallucinatory component. In this review, we explore the role of S. divinorum, SA and its analogues. We focus mainly on their analgesic and anti-inflammatory roles but also mention their psychoactive properties.

Coffeen, U., & Pellicer, F. (2019). Salvia divinorum: from recreational hallucinogenic use to analgesic and anti-inflammatory action. Journal of pain research, 12, 1069., 10.2147/JPR.S188619

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Metabolite Profiling of Antiaddictive Alkaloids from Four Mexican Tabernaemontana Species and the Entheogenic African Shrub Tabernanthe iboga (Apocynaceae)

January 7, 2019 / Biology & Ethnobotany, Iboga / Ibogaine, Papers, Pharmacology & Chemistry, Publications, Substance Use Disorder / By / , , , ,

Abstract

Ibogaine and other ibogan type alkaloids present anti-addictive effects against several drugs of abuse and occur in different species of the Apocynaceae family. In this work, we used gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC/MS) and principal component analysis (PCA) in order to compare the alkaloid profiles of the root and stem barks of four Mexican Tabernaemontana species with the root bark of the entheogenic African shrub Tabernanthe iboga. PCA demonstrated that separation between species could be attributed to quantitative differences of the major alkaloids, coronaridine, ibogamine, voacangine, and ibogaine. While T. iboga mainly presented high concentrations of ibogaine, Tabernaemontana samples either showed a predominance of voacangine and ibogaine, or coronaridine and ibogamine, respectively. The results illustrate the phytochemical proximity between both genera and confirm previous suggestions that Mexican Tabernaemontana species are viable sources of anti-addictive compounds.

Krengel, F., Chevalier, Q., Dickinson, J., Santoyo, J. H., & Reyes-Chilpa, R. (2019). Metabolite Profiling of Antiaddictive Alkaloids from Four Mexican Tabernaemontana Species and the Entheogenic African Shrub Tabernanthe iboga (Apocynaceae). Chemistry & biodiversity., 10.1002/cbdv.201800506
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Iterative l-Tryptophan Methylation in Psilocybe Evolved by Subdomain Duplication

August 11, 2018 / Biology & Ethnobotany, Mushrooms / Psilocybin, Neuroscience, Papers, Pharmacology & Chemistry, Publications / By / , , , ,

Abstract

Psilocybe mushrooms are best known for their l-tryptophan-derived psychotropic alkaloid psilocybin. Dimethylation of norbaeocystin, the precursor of psilocybin, by the enzyme PsiM is a critical step during the biosynthesis of psilocybin. However, the “magic” mushroom Psilocybe serbica also mono- and dimethylates l-tryptophan, which is incompatible with the specificity of PsiM. Here, a second methyltransferase, TrpM, was identified and functionally characterized. Mono- and dimethylation activity on l-tryptophan was reconstituted in vitro, whereas tryptamine was rejected as a substrate. Therefore, we describe a second l-tryptophan-dependent pathway in Psilocybe that is not part of the biosynthesis of psilocybin. TrpM is unrelated to PsiM but originates from a retained ancient duplication event of a portion of the egtDB gene that encodes an ergothioneine biosynthesis enzyme. During mushroom evolution, this duplicated gene was widely lost but re-evolved sporadically and independently in various genera. We propose a new secondary metabolism evolvability mechanism, in which weakly selected genes are retained through preservation in a widely distributed, conserved pathway.

Blei, F., Fricke, J., Wick, J., Slot, J. C., & Hoffmeister, D. (2018). Iterative l‐Tryptophan Methylation in Psilocybe Evolved by Subdomain Duplication. ChemBioChem, 19(20), 2160-2166., 10.1002/cbic.201800336.
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Production Options for Psilocybin: Making of the Magic

July 16, 2018 / Biology & Ethnobotany, Mushrooms / Psilocybin, Papers, Pharmacology & Chemistry, Publications / By / , , , ,

Abstract

The fungal genus Psilocybe and other genera comprise numerous mushroom species that biosynthesize psilocybin (4-phosphoryloxy-N,N-dimethyltryptamine). It represents the prodrug to its dephosphorylated psychotropic analogue, psilocin. The colloquial term “magic mushrooms” for these fungi alludes to their hallucinogenic effects and to their use as recreational drugs. However, clinical trials have recognized psilocybin as a valuable candidate to be developed into a medication against depression and anxiety. We here highlight its recently elucidated biosynthesis, the concurrently developed concept of enzymatic in vitro and heterologous in vivo production, along with previous synthetic routes. The prospect of psilocybin as a promising therapeutic may entail an increased demand, which can be met by biotechnological production. Therefore, we also briefly touch on psilocybin’s therapeutic relevance and pharmacology.

Fricke, J., Lenz, C., Wick, J., Blei, F., & Hoffmeister, D. (2018). Production Options for Psilocybin: Making of the Magic. Chemistry–A European Journal., 10.1002/chem.201802758

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