Speaker Bio
Nicole Galvão-Coelho is an Associate Professor at the Federal University of Rio Grande do Norte-Brazil and an Adjunct Professor at NICM Health Research Institute at Western Sydney University-Australia. Ph.D. in Psychobiology and BS in Biology. She has a scientific interest in alternative therapies for depressive disorders. She has been investigating several treatments ranging from lifestyle-based interventions to psychedelic substances like ayahuasca, DMT, and the anesthetic Ketamine. Besides the antidepressant response, the molecular biological response is also analyzed in clinical and pre-clinical studies to validate biomarkers for depression aiming to help in clinical practice. She conducted the first clinical study, with patients with depression, that evaluated neuroplasticity in response to a classic psychedelic (ayahuasca).
ICPR 2024 Abstract
DMT Science in Brazil: Past, Present, Future
This symposium will present our journey through N,N-Dimethyltryptamine (DMT) research, which started over two decades ago. First, Fernanda Palhano-Fontes is going to present our pioneering clinical study on the antidepressant effects of ayahuasca. To simplify and optimize possible clinical applications in health systems, our team continued to explore the practicability of inhaled DMT. Here, Marcelo Falchi will present our investigations on the safety and tolerability of vaporized DMT in healthy humans. This presentation will be followed by presenting the basic science of DMT, conducting a study on its effects on suggestibility, a capacity of crucial importance in therapeutic contexts, and related brain mechanisms, which Isabel Wießner will present. Following the path of investigating DMT’s antidepressant properties, Draulio Araujo will show the results of our recent phase IIa clinical trial on DMT in patients with depression. Lastly, Nicole Galvão-Coelho will close the symposium by detailing our findings on the impact of DMT on different biomarkers of major depression, as examined in all our studies.