Business Trip

Greg and Matias interview Ed Boyden about neuroscience frontiers and its applications to mental health.

Ed is a pioneer in understanding the fundamental mechanisms of the brain. He runs a lab at MIT for Synthetic Neurobiology and is a professor across the departments of neurotechnology, biological engineering, and cognitive science at MIT’s McGovern Institute for Brain Research. His inventions include optogenetic tools and expansion microscopy. He is co-founder of Cognito Therapeutics, Elemind, TI Solutions, and Synlife, and scientific advisor to several other companies.

In this episode, we discuss…

• Academia vs. startups for neuroscience advancement
• Evaluating data vs intuition to assess new technologies
• Breakthroughs like optogenetics and expansion microscopy
• How to translate neurotech into companies/commercialization
• Approaches for clearly communicating and "storytelling" complex science.

Credits:

Created by Greg Kubin and Matias Serebrinsky
Host: Matias Serebrinsky & Greg Kubin
Produced by Jonathan A. Davis,  Nico V. Rey & Caitlin Ner

Find us at businesstrip.fm and psymed.ventures
Follow us on Instagram and Twitter!
Theme music by Dorian Love
Additional Music: Distant Daze by Zack Frank

Greg and Matias interview Steve Rio about 5-MeO-DMT and its potential role in mental healthcare. 

Steve is a social impact cofounder, transformational coach, and practitioner at the Enfold Institute, one of the most reputable aboveground retreat centers working with 5-MeO-DMT. He shared many insights from his hands-on experience guiding hundreds of people through the medicine.

In this episode, we discuss…

• 5-MeO-DMT’s distinct psychedelic experience
• Enfold’s protocol of screening, preparation and integration
• Why high doses may not fit into the mainstream medical model
• 5-MeO's intense somatic release and non-dual experience
• The future of 5-MeO research and drug development

More information on Enfold Institute here: enfold.org

Credits:

Created by Greg Kubin and Matias Serebrinsky
Host: Matias Serebrinsky & Greg Kubin
Produced by Jonathan A. Davis,  Nico V. Rey & Caitlin Ner

Find us at businesstrip.fm and psymed.ventures
Follow us on Instagram and Twitter!
Theme music by Dorian Love
Additional Music: Distant Daze by Zack Frank

Tom Insel is an entrepreneur and former director of the US National Institute of Mental Health, the lead US agency supporting mental health research with a $2 billion budget. Since his time at the NIMH, Tom has built mental health technology, first at Verily and Mindstrong Health, and more recently founded Vanna Health, an online healthcare provider for serious mental illness.

In his book "Healing", he talks about the importance of the 3 P's for solving the US mental health crisis: People, Place, and Purpose. Greg & Matias interview Tom on Business Trip to discuss the 4th "P": Payment. "We have to figure out how to pay for this", he says.

In this episode, we discuss…

• Psychedelics in the healthcare system
• Are antidepressants overprescribed? 
• AI in mental health
• Tom’s learnings from almost starting a VC fund

Credits:

Created by Greg Kubin and Matias Serebrinsky
Host: Matias Serebrinsky & Greg Kubin
Produced by Jonathan A. Davis,  Nico V. Rey & Caitlin Ner

Find us at businesstrip.fm and psymed.ventures
Follow us on Instagram and Twitter!
Theme music by Dorian Love
Additional Music: Distant Daze by Zack Frank

What if your next antidepressant was a clam or spinach?

Greg & Matias invite Dr. Drew Ramsey to explore nutritional psychiatry - a field exploring how the food we eat can be as powerful as medication in treating mental illnesses like depression and anxiety.

Dr. Drew Ramsey is a psychiatrist, entrepreneur and author focusing on nutritional interventions for mental wellbeing. Drew shares scientific research to make a business case for nutritional psychiatry - how customized food interventions could reduce healthcare costs for conditions like depression and anxiety. 

We debunk common myths around nutrition and mental health and envision a future where psychedelics and fermented foods may be first-line treatments. Ramsey offers simple diet tweaks you can make today for improved mental fitness.

In this episode, we discuss…

• How nutritional psychiatry can be a cost-effective mental health treatment
• Why doctors need more nutritional education to prescribe food as medicine 
• What startups and opportunities there are in this space 
• What foods and nutrients are best for your mental health

Tune into the episode to learn more!

Credits:

Created by Greg Kubin and Matias Serebrinsky
Host: Matias Serebrinsky & Greg Kubin
Produced by Jonathan A. Davis,  Nico V. Rey & Caitlin Ner

Find us at businesstrip.fm and psymed.ventures
Follow us on Instagram and Twitter!
Theme music by Dorian Love
Additional Music: Distant Daze by Zack Frank

• The powerful personal story behind Jan's passion for this field
• The science and mechanistic details behind metabolic psychiatry
• Misconceptions about mental health and diets
• Challenges to mainstream adoption
• Business opportunities in metabolic interventions

Advancements in neuroscience, AI, and bioengineering are unlocking new possibilities for neurotechnologies. Investors are paying attention.

Alex Morgan of Khosla Ventures is an MD, PhD, physicist, and one of the most active investors in neurotech startups. He's backed companies harnessing neuromodulation for varied applications - from sleep (Somnee) to depression (Flow) to motor recovery (Syncron). 

In this episode, Alex shares an insider's overview of the neurotech landscape. We discuss when neurotech solutions make more sense than traditional pharma. Alex reveals which brain technologies excite him most, and why.

We also unpack key business strategy questions. When should startups pursue the consumer route versus FDA approval? What does Alex look for in neurotech founders on the cutting edge?

This episode is for founders, investors, clinicians, and researchers interested in understanding the cutting edge of neurotech and how it will become an integral part to the future of our mental health. 

Neuromodulation flies in the face of modern psychiatry. It can significantly improve mental health without drugs. It allows us to stimulate or inhibit activity in precise regions of the brain using electricity, magnetism or ultrasound. 

Motif Neurotech is pioneering minimally invasive implants to precisely deliver neuromodulation for mental health. In this special episode, Matias joins Empath Ventures’ Brom Rector to interview Jacob Robinson, an entrepreneurial scientist who leveraged his academic research to start Motif Neurotech. 

PsyMed Ventures and Empath Ventures invested in Motif’s latest seed round. Motif's implantable device stimulates a region of the brain associated with depression. Other applications being explored include Alzheimer's disease, PTSD and ADHD.

Neuromodulation is still early but holds great promise as a paradigm shift in psychiatry and even human augmentation–unlocking the full potential of the brain.

Credits: 

Created by Greg Kubin and Matias Serebrinsky
Host: Matias Serebrinsky & Greg Kubin
Produced by Jonathan A. Davis,  Nico V. Rey & Caitlin Ner

Find us at businesstrip.fm and psymed.ventures
Follow us on Instagram and Twitter!
Theme music by Dorian Love
Additional Music: Distant Daze by Zack Frank and Temperance by Eltham House

In part 2 of a 2-part series, Greg and Matias explore microbial therapeutics for mental health with Dr. Christopher Reyes, biophysist, serial enterepreneur, and founder of Bloom Science. Dr. Reyes' research on leveraging microbes to treat neurological conditions began at UC San Francisco.

He is now translating his microbiome research into startups targeting epilepsy, ALS, and even anxiety and depression. We discuss the science behind how gut microbes may influence neurotransmitters and mood. Dr. Reyes gives an insider perspective on the challenges of standardizing microbial therapies when each person has a unique microbiome fingerprint.

We explore the regulatory landscape and future of microbial therapies for mental health. Dr. Reyes shares his experience navigating intellectual property, licensing deals, raising capital, and designing clinical trials to bring microbiome innovations to market. 

Credits: 

Created by Greg Kubin and Matias Serebrinsky
Host: Matias Serebrinsky & Greg Kubin
Produced by Jonathan A. Davis,  Nico V. Rey & Caitlin Ner

Find us at businesstrip.fm and psymed.ventures
Follow us on Instagram and Twitter!
Theme music by Dorian Love
Additional Music: Distant Daze by Zack Frank

Business Trip  launched in 2020 as a podcast focused on psychedelics. As Matias and Greg started to dive deeper into the complexities of mental health, they met more and more entrepreneurs and scientists creating novel treatments across many areas of mental health, including the gut microbiome.

Dr. Phil Strandwitz pulls back the curtain on the gut-brain connection and the future of mental health. As founder of Holobiome, Phil is pioneering microbial therapies for conditions like depression and epilepsy.

In part 1 of a 2-part series, we dive deep on how trillions of gut bacteria influence neurotransmitters, mood, cognition, and more. An imbalance in your microbiome could underlie mental health issues. Can fecal (poop) transplants treat depression? 

Phil shares how startups like Holobiome aim to develop microbiome-based treatments. We'll also explore lifestyle changes like diet, prebiotics, and probiotics to support gut health.

Part frontier medicine, part taboo, this conversation will change how you think about the gut-brain connection. 

Credits: 

Created by Greg Kubin and Matias Serebrinsky
Host: Matias Serebrinsky & Greg Kubin
Produced by Jonathan A. Davis,  Nico V. Rey & Caitlin Ner

Find us at businesstrip.fm and psymed.ventures
Follow us on Instagram and Twitter!
Theme music by Dorian Love
Additional Music: Distant Daze by Zack Frank

Stanford University is one of the leading universities in psychedelic science, focusing on understanding how psychedelics work in the body. 

This is part 3 of a 3-part series, where we will explore groundbreaking discoveries via leading Stanford researchers who are revealing the significance of psychedelic science in modern research. We conclude the series with Carolyn Rodriguez.

Carolyn Rodriguez is Associate Dean at Stanford University School of Medicine and a psychiatrist at the Palo Alto VA. As Director of the Rodriguez Translational Therapeutics Lab, she leads studies on severe mental illness. Her clinical trials pioneer rapid-acting treatments for OCD and related disorders demonstrating ketamine's efficacy in reducing OCD symptoms. She now plans placebo-controlled studies of MDMA and other psychedelics, unlocking their therapeutic potential for OCD.

Credits: 

Created by Greg Kubin and Matias Serebrinsky
Host: Matias Serebrinsky & Greg Kubin
Produced by Jonathan A. Davis,  Nico V. Rey & Caitlin Ner
Find us at businesstrip.fm and psymed.ventures
Follow us on Instagram and Twitter!
Theme music by Dorian Love
Additional Music: Distant Daze by Zack Frank

Stanford University is one of the leading universities in psychedelic science, focusing on understanding how psychedelics work in the body. 

This is part 2 of a 3-part series, where we will explore groundbreaking discoveries via leading Stanford researchers who are revealing the significance of psychedelic science in modern research. We continue with Boris Heifets.

Boris Heifets, an assistant professor at Stanford's School of Medicine. Boris leads the Heifets Lab, which is dedicated to understanding and improving on powerful, rapid-acting therapies for psychiatric disease, such as ketamine, MDMA and psilocybin. Boris is an anesthesiologist and neurologist, a combination that uniquely positions him to design a research study evaluating the effect of ketamine on patients under anesthesia with depression. 

Credits: 

Created by Greg Kubin and Matias Serebrinsky
Host: Matias Serebrinsky & Greg Kubin
Produced by Jonathan A. Davis,  Nico V. Rey & Caitlin Ner
Find us at businesstrip.fm and psymed.ventures
Follow us on Instagram and Twitter!
Theme music by Dorian Love
Additional Music: Distant Daze by Zack Frank

Psychedelics have long been known to induce altered states of consciousness. But there are many other techniques that can also expand our awareness - from meditation and breathwork to exploring dreams, prayer, light and sound. In this episode, Greg speaks with Scott Britton about the emerging startup landscape around tools for expanding consciousness.

Scott is an entrepreneur who now writes a newsletter called Consciousness ∞ The Doorway to Human Evolution He also hosts a podcast called EvolutionFM.

This special episode is a deeper dive into Greg & Scott’s recent article about the consciousness startup ecosystem.

In this episode, we discuss:

• VC-backable business models in psychedelic medicine
• Hardware devices that induce deeper meditation and lucid dream states
• Breathwork: app vs. in-person experiences 
• Prayer apps attracting huge investment
• Startups using sound, light, and visuals to catalyze altered states
• Integrating ancient wisdom into modern consciousness-expanding tech

Credits: 

Created by Greg Kubin and Matias Serebrinsky
Host: Matias Serebrinsky & Greg Kubin
Produced by Jonathan A. Davis,  Nico V. Rey & Caitlin Ner
Find us at businesstrip.fm and psymed.ventures
Follow us on Instagram and Twitter!
Theme music by Dorian Love
Additional Music: Distant Daze by Zack Frank

Stanford University is one of the leading universities in psychedelic science, focusing on understanding how psychedelics work in the body. 

In this 3-part series, we will explore groundbreaking discoveries via leading Stanford researchers who are revealing the significance of psychedelic science in modern research. We start the series with Robert Malenka.

Robert Malenka is a professor of psychiatry at Stanford University with over three decades of experience in preclinical neuroscience research. His primary focus is on the study of psychoactive drugs, including psychedelics, and their potential therapeutic applications. In addition to his academic role, Malenka is a founder and deputy director of the Wsai Neurosciences Institute at Stanford.

Credits: 

Created by Greg Kubin and Matias Serebrinsky
Host: Matias Serebrinsky & Greg Kubin
Produced by Jonathan A. Davis,  Nico V. Rey & Caitlin Ner
Find us at businesstrip.fm and psymed.ventures
Follow us on Instagram and Twitter!
Theme music by Dorian Love
Additional Music: Distant Daze by Zack Frank

Psychedelic Science 2023, Learning Man, MAPS Burn...whatever you want to call it...was a magical conference organized by MAPS.

12k people made the pilgrimage to Denver to discuss psychedelic science, culture, business, art, spirituality, and more.

Rick Doblin called this the "Psychedelic 20's" and this event felt like a watershed moment.

Luckily, Greg brought his microphone and recorded his experience for a special episode of Business Trip.

Guests include Zach Haigney, Myriam Barthes, Lauren Taus, Hamilton Morris, and many more…

Credits: 

Created by Greg Kubin and Matias Serebrinsky
Host: Matias Serebrinsky & Greg Kubin
Produced by Jonathan A. Davis,  Nico V. Rey & Caitlin Ner
Find us at businesstrip.fm and psymed.ventures
Follow us on Instagram and Twitter!
Theme music by Dorian Love
Additional Music: Distant Daze by Zack Frank

What does it take for a traditional VC to fund a psychedelic company? In our latest episode, Matias takes us behind the scenes of a panel discussion at the Psychedelic Therapeutics & Drug Development Conference in San Francisco, CA. Matias talks with VCs at firms with $100M+ fund sizes: Anne Dwane, a partner at Village Global, Amanda Way, principal at Jazz Venture Partners and Dana Watt PhD, principal at Breakout Ventures.

In this episode, we discuss: (1) How VCs identify and evaluate a strong founding team, (2) Evaluating scientific, technical, and market risk, (3) The pros and cons of platforms vs. asset companies, (4) How to position a psychedelic company in the broader biotech ecosystem.

Credits: 

Created by Greg Kubin and Matias Serebrinsky
Host: Matias Serebrinsky & Greg Kubin
Produced by Jonathan A. Davis,  Nico V. Rey & Caitlin Ner
Find us at businesstrip.fm and psymed.ventures
Follow us on Instagram and Twitter!
Theme music by Dorian Love
Additional Music: Distant Daze by Zack Frank

In our latest episode, Greg and Matias engage in an insightful discussion with Dr. Bryan Roth, the Michael Hooker Distinguished Professor of Pharmacology at the University of North Carolina Chapel Hill School of Medicine, and the founder of the Roth Lab.

Dr. Roth’s lab is on the cutting edge of researching the interaction between brain cell receptors and compounds like LSD and psilocybin. Their findings have the potential to revolutionize the treatment of psychiatric disorders, potentially creating new forms of psychedelics that offer the therapeutic benefits without hallucinations or other side effects.

In this episode, we discuss (1) the therapeutic effects of psychedelic and non-hallucinatory compounds, (2) the transition from animal model studies to human trials and (3) the journey of turning deep academic research into viable commercial entities.

Credits: 

Created by Greg Kubin and Matias Serebrinsky
Host: Matias Serebrinsky & Greg Kubin
Produced by Jonathan A. Davis,  Nico V. Rey & Caitlin Ner

Find us at businesstrip.fm and psymed.ventures
Follow us on Instagram and Twitter!
Theme music by Dorian Love
Additional Music: Distant Daze by Zack Frank

In this week's episode, Greg and Matias take a moment to reflect on the opportunities and challenges they have faced while building the PsyMed Ventures syndicate and venture capital fund since starting the Business Trip podcast in 2020. Their ultimate goal is to support founders who are building ethical businesses in frontier mental health technologies with the aim of ending the suffering caused by mental illnesses. This conversation offers an honest insight into raising and deploying a venture capital fund as an emerging manager.

Credits: 

Created by Greg Kubin and Matias Serebrinsky
Host: Matias Serebrinsky & Greg Kubin
Produced by Jonathan A. Davis,  Nico V. Rey & Caitlin Ner

Find us at businesstrip.fm and psymed.ventures
Follow us on Instagram and Twitter!
Theme music by Dorian Love
Additional Music: Distant Daze by Zack Frank

In this week’s episode, Greg and Matias chat with Josh Hardman, the founder of Psychedelic Alpha. 

Josh is a leading writer and founder at Psychedelic Alpha, an online resource, newsletter, and community covering the intersection of psychedelics and business. He regularly collaborates and writes with experts in the psychedelic field including entrepreneurs, academic researchers, non-profits, and more to provide a comprehensive understanding of the latest developments in the industry. Psychedelic Alpha recently released Psychedelics 2022: A Year in Review to comment on and analyze the industry across research, funding, and policy.

Credits: 

Created by Greg Kubin and Matias Serebrinsky
Host: Matias Serebrinsky & Greg Kubin
Produced by Jonathan A. Davis,  Zack Frank, & Caitlin Ner

Find us at businesstrip.fm and psymed.ventures
Follow us on Instagram and Twitter!
Theme music by Dorian Love
Additional Music: Distant Daze by Zack Frank

In this week’s special episode, Matias chats with Dr. Rachel Yehuda and Zach Haigney at Soho House in New York City. This is part 2 of a moderated panel recorded in front of a live audience, with part 1 released in June 2022. 

Dr. Yehuda has spent the last 30 years doing research on PTSD and trauma and is leading the MDMA-assisted therapy research at the US Veterans Affairs Medical Center and serves as Director at the Mental Health at the James J. Peters VA Medical Center. She is also the Director of the Center for Psychedelic Psychotherapy and Trauma Research at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai Hospital and Professor of Psychiatry and Neuroscience. Zach Haigney writes the Trip Report by Beckley Waves, a newsletter about the science, policy, and business of psychedelics.

Credits: 

Created by Greg Kubin and Matias Serebrinsky
Host: Matias Serebrinsky & Greg Kubin
Produced by Jonathan A. Davis,  Zack Frank, & Caitlin Ner

Find us at businesstrip.fm
Follow us on Instagram and Twitter!
Theme music by Dorian Love
Additional Music: Distant Daze by Zack Frank

This episode shares the story of Tactogen, a drug development company making new chemical entities inspired by MDMA. Co-founder Matt Baggott has been fascinated by MDMA and has studied it for 30 years. And while he believes that MDMA can be effective as a therapeutic, his company is developing an MDMA analogue that is designed to be  gentler and safer, with the potential to be administered in an at-home setting. 

Links:
Tactogen WeFunder: https://wefunder.com/tactogen

Credits: 

Created by Greg Kubin and Matias Serebrinsky
Host:  Matias Serebrinsky
Produced by Jonathan A. Davis & Zack Frank

Find us at businesstrip.fm
Follow us on Instagram and Twitter!
Theme music by Dorian Love

Additional Music:
Distant Daze by Zack Frank