Deep connections drive psychedelic research

As psychedelic drugs gain more support from the medical community as a potential treatment for severe depression – and with the U.S. government relaxing its regulatory constraints – there remains a vast gap in understanding how the drugs work on the brain. Alex Kwan, Ph.D. ’09, professor of biomedical engineering in the Cornell Duffield College of Engineering, is at the center of a multidisciplinary investigation that is exploring the basic neurobiology and mechanics behind psychedelic compounds such as psilocybin.