The University of the West Indies (UWI), Mona’s Faculty of Science and Technology is diving into a new area of research: psychedelic fungi and its potential to change mental health treatment.

Professor Michael Taylor, dean of the UWI Faculty of Science and Technology explained, “There is a growing demand for clinical use of mushrooms in group retreats and psychiatric treatments, as well as a burgeoning industry related to cultivation and product development.”

In 2021, Field Trip Health Canada invested in a lab on the campus to grow different types of psilocybin mushrooms for research and commercial purposes. The lab, now run by Future Wellness, a local company, is GMP-certified.

Professor Rupika Delgoda, who leads the research team, said, “Psychedelic fungi are experiencing a surge in interest in recent years, particularly among patients under treatment for a variety of mental health issues. These include depression, anxiety disorder, alcoholism, and post-traumatic stress disorder. Jamaica is one of few places where research, cultivation, and use of psilocybin is unrestricted.”

“For this reason, the faculty has been consistent in its efforts to invest in the project and partner with external parties who also have a vested interest in the transformative solutions that this research brings,” she added.

Since research began in 2021, the team including Dr Kimberley Foster, Dr Isaac Morrison, and Dr William Irvine says they have made very promising discoveries that they are working to disseminate.

Delgoda added, “Our research goals include optimising cultivation conditions for producing well-characterised biomass. We have established and published optimum growing conditions for cultivating genetically identified Psilocybe cubensismushrooms, to support the industry. The facility has also established protocols for potential industry standards (potency and safety) for products suitable for human consumption.”

“We aim to extend such efforts to the other psychoactive fungal species as well as evaluate any novel biological activities in natural products expressed therein. We further aim to search for predictive outcomes of in silico generated substrates, inhibitors, and inducers using our recently generated molecular models of key enzymes in the psilocybin biosynthetic pathway, among other goals,” she continued.