Stay ConnectedInterviews with the scientists, founders and investors driving Human 3 – the next epoch of health, wellbeing and performance.
Topics include brain-computer interfaces, genetic medicine, psychedelics, longevity, AI and more.
Hosted by Brom Rector and Sam Tabone – founders of XEIA Venture Partners, a venture capital fund investing in Human 3.
More at www.xeiavp.com
Copyright: © Brom Rector and Empath Ventures
Ever wondered what Pioneer Fund’s Future of Health Fund is excited about? Want to know how to impress Dave Messina? Are you curious about how different funds communicate and interact?
Give a listen to our first in a potential series of the Human 3 podcast: VCxVC talks, hosted by Samantha Rector.
Dave Messina is a General Partner at Pioneer Fund, managing Pioneer’s Future of Health Fund, a fund of over 100 Y Combinator healthtech alumni investing in top health startups.
He’s spent over 25 years in healthcare and has been leading healthcare investments at Pioneer Fund since 2019. Dave has led over 100 deals and has invested in companies including Gilgamesh Pharmaceutical, Assort Health, Freshpaint & PostEra, among many other impressive companies.
We see a lot of companies in techbio as tech companies that use a lot of the same technology that the tech companies who get the headlines use. The tech is often the same even though there’s an overlay of science and regulation.
Dave has been a friend of XEIA’s for several years and has been the lead investor on several common deals including NeuroBionics’ pre-seed, Kerna Labs’ pre-seed and the pre-seed of a very exciting, but also VERY stealth NewCo. We couldn’t have thought of a better friend to bring on for the first VCxVC Human 3 pod.0:00 - Who is Dave Messina of Pioneer Fund?
1:19 - Sam’s recent call to conversation
2:17 - Dave’s take on breaking the conversation rhythm as a biotech VC
3:30 - XEIA’s first VCxVC podcast
4:35 - What is Pioneer Fund and the Future of Health fund?
7:45 - YC and biotech investments
12:30 - How Pioneer and XEIA met each other
14:24 - Pioneer and XEIA’s first coinvestment; NeuroBionics (plug podcast)
14:50 - How Pioneer decides to invest in companies that are not YC alum, like NeuroBionics
16:57 - Why NeuroBionics is so cool
21:56 - The transition from academia to being a founder; what we look for
26:15 - A tough reality for technical founders
28:50 - Another coinvestment; Kerna Labs and its coolness (plug podcast)
34:08 - Tech companies in the life sciences
34:59 - XEIA’s historical focus in techbio: discrete biological problems
37:55 - A shift to drugs that promote lifespan and healthspan more broadly
38:50 - “Pure play techbio” & our third coinvestment: a super stealth company
39:56 - Jack O’Meara and Pioneer’s investment in Aerska; riffing on repeat founders
40:58 - The startup pace
42:22 - Underwriting really young companies as early stage investors
43:28 - Dave’s work on The Human Genome Project (!!!!!)
50:05 - Empowering the individual, non-expert to use LLMs and biological data responsibly
52:51 - Consumerization of health
55:50 - Benefits of AI in healthcare
58:55 - SiPhox and at-home testing
1:00:23 - AI in bio and drug discovery (what it was, what it is and where it’s going)
1:02:50 - Phone ringing interruption lol (ends at 1:03:02)
1:05:08 - What does the future of bio look like? Is data generation key?
1:06:44 - Tighter feedback loops between data generation and predictions; specialization as key
1:08:40 - How AI will impact the future of biopharma
1:09:55 - Dave’s take on SaaS in techbio
1:14:06 - The last burning question for Dave
1:16:26 - How to get in touch with Dave
Brom Rector and Sam Tabone from XEIA Venture Partners - a VC firm that invests in the future of human health, wellbeing and performance - discuss $HIMS Q2 results and the HIMS business more broadly.
We spend a lot of time discussing the legality of HIMS current FDA strategy and how/if HIMS can compete in a world with increasing competition from players like Function Health and Superpower.
This is not financial advice.
Watch the video recording on YouTube: https://youtu.be/BM6x59oMnKg?si=qF0xDvgUMvU60ctP
2025 has been the start of a bull period for psychedelic medicine.
Psychedelic Biotechs like GH Research, Compass Pathways and Lykos Therapeutics are releasing impressive, late stage clinical trial data
Capital is following the data: Cybin just raised $500M and Johnson and Johnson's Ketamine-inspired antidepressant Spravato broke $1B+ / year of topline.
A new administration seems surprisingly interested in accelerating the FDA approval of psychedelics as treatments for mental health disorders
Learn how top VCs and LPs are mapping and allocating to this exciting space in this special event designed for family offices and HNWIs.
You will learn:
The contrasting approaches that biotech and pharma are taking to commercialize psychedelic medicine
Where we see the highest-leverage points for investing
Lessons from past failures
And of course there will be plenty of time for interaction and Q&A
This event is run by Brom Rector and Sam Tabone of XEIA, a venture capital fund that invests in "Human 3 - the next epoch of human health, wellbeing and performance". As part of their Human 3 thesis, they have invested in 8 psychedelic medicine companies from pre-seed to pre-IPO.
The past few years have been rough for psychedelic and shroom stocks, but recent news from ATAI (and Recognify), Compass Pathways and GH Research + positive regulatory tailwinds from RFK and MAHA make me think that Psychedelics are back on the menu in 2025.
In this video I discuss:
(0:00) - why psychedelics are hot again in 2025
(5:45) - latest thoughts on Compass a month after their Phase 3 topline data
(9:45) - thoughts on ATAI / Recognify, and how this feeds back into our psychedelic macro theme
Join our investing in psychedelics webinar www.psybio.org
Ryan Field is the CEO of Kernel, a brain-computer interface company founded by Bryan Johnson. Kernel is a cutting edge, non-invasive BCI that uses fNIRS to image the brain. Imagine if getting an MRI was as easy as putting on a bike helmet: that's Kernel in a nutshell.
Kernel is developing several applications on top of their device including (A) predicting which antidepressant you will respond best to and (B) BrainAge, a cognitive assesment that tells you how young your brain is relative to your chronological age.
Ryan joins Brom Rector and Sam Tabone on the podcast to discuss:
(0:00) - Ryan’s background
(7:30) - history of Kernel
(10:00) - non-invasive VS invasive BCI (Kernel vs NeuraLink)
(25:00) - what Kernel can do: depression treatment response + brain age
(31:00) - Kernel's AI: black box or hand tuned features
(45:00) - How Kernel can detect cognitive impairment
(55:30) - Kernel's alcohol study
(58:00) - Kernel vs cheap neurotechand more!Get your Brain Age measured at https://www.kernel.com/brainage
I interviewed Michael Huseby to learn about his life story and his new book: Fundamentals: Your Friendly Guide to Investment Funds and SyndicationsThis is a great listen for anyone interested in starting an investment fund or interested in making the transition from "practitioner" to "practitioner operator", like Michael did when leaving BigLaw to start his firm, and like I did when leaving the hedge fund I was to start my own fund. We cover: 0:00 - Michael's backstory. Big Law. Going blind. The road to Entrepreneurship16:30 - from legal practitioner to legal entrepreneur23:30 - how TIL is different, a law firm run like a startup37:30 - how Michael is growing his firm + law in the age of AI44:30 - trends in the private markets world51:00 - what are the attributes of successful fund managers54:00 - 506(b) vs 506(c)1:03:00 - most common mistakes people make when starting a fund1:07:30 - Michael’s views fund-in-a-box services like AngelList, Carta and SydecarMichael's law firm: https://www.investmentslawyers.com/Michael's book: https://www.amazon.com/Fundamentals-Friendly-Guide-Investment-Syndications-ebook/dp/B0FCMJL1G8/ref=sr_1_1
Replay of our webinar on investing in brain computer interfaces. Join our upcoming July 30th event on investing in psychedelic biotech: psybio.org
Xylo is a biotech startup that is using computational methods to design novel brain drugs to treat mental health disorders and neurodegeneration. Many of their drug candidates are inspired by naturally occurring psychedelic drugs but are specifically designed to not induce hallucinations. Xylo's cofounders Josh Ismin and Sam Banister join Brom Rector and Sam Tabone to discuss:
(3:25) - Xylo origins + why design novel psychedelic molecules?
10:30) - How Xylo’s AI approach is different than other non-hallucinogenic psychedelic companies like Gilgamesh and Delix
(21:30) - What is the head twitch response?
(25:30) - How Xylo’s drugs are different than other psychedelics even though they hit the same receptor (5HT2a)
(26:30) - How Lykos’ failure to get MDMA approved impacts Xylo
(32:00) - Running trials in Australia
(43:00) - How has Xylo has evolved over the years
(50:30) - How will AI change drug discovery
(53:00) - How much of the neuro receptor space has been characterized
(56:00) - Is Xylo bullish or bearish on AIMore on Xylo here: https://www.xylo.bio/
More on Brom, Sam and XEIA here: www.xeiavp.com
Arye Lipman is the cofounder of Biosphere, a startup that recently raised millions of dollars from Peter Thiel's Founders Fund and Chris Sacca's Lower Carbon Capital to Unleash Industrial Biomanufacturing at scale. Biosphere is replacing the 1950's steam bioreactor with a modern, UV-enabled design that reduces the capital intensity of biomanufacturing.
Arye joins Brom Rector and Sam Tabone to share how biomanufacturing promises to unlock a new era of global abundance and American sovereignty. We also discuss: (0:00) - what is biomanufacturing
(5:00) - biomanufacturing vs traditional manufacturing
(10:00) - how Biosphere's UV bioreactors are 10x better than traditional bioreactors
(28:30) - what a 10x cost decrease in biomanufacturing unlocks.
(35:00) - can we grow a steak without a cow?
(42:00) - how biosphere raised from Founders Fund and Lower Carbon Capital
(51:00) - is biomanufacturing "woke climate" or American Dynamism?
(55:50) - how Biosphere is working with the DOD
(1:07:30) - Trump’s view on biomanufacturing
(1:12:00) - Consciousness, dolphins and the CIA Check our biosphere here: https://www.biosphere.io/
Compass Pathways ($CMPS) released an interim readout from their Phase 3 trial of Psilocybin (COMP360) for treatment resistant depression (TRD).
The data was positive and highly anticipated by the psychedelic community, but the stock dropped 50% on June 23rd. Brom Rector and Sam Tabone of XEIA Venture Partners react and comment in this emergency podcast.
We discuss:
(0:00) - what did the Compass Pathways data readout actually say
(12:00) - putting the Compass trial results into context vs SSRIs, Lexapro, Spravato and Ketamine
(19:00) - why Compass crashed
(24:00) - will Comp360 get FDA approval?
(26:00) - will COMP360 be commercially successful?
(30:00) - price targets for Compass Pathways $CMPS
(35:00) - will Compass get acquired?
(40:00) - are we bullish or bearish on Compass?
Learn more about Brom, Sam and XEIA at www.xeiavp.com
Martin Jacko is the founder of Aperture Therapeutics, a startup developing ASO (Antisense Oligonucleotide) based therapies for neurodegenerative diseases like ALS. Aperture's approach is unique in how they are guided by genetic profiles of individuals who are naturally resilient to neurodegenerative diseases. Martin joins Sam Tabone and Brom Rector to discuss (5:00) - Aperture origin story
(10:00) - history of trying to cure ALS, why 150 attempts failed
(25:00) - why neuro is hot right now - genetic medicine
(33:00) - why 23 and me failed
(41:00) - how genetics lead to personalized medicine
(53:00) - martin’s advice for founders https://www.aperturetx.com/
Wes Jones is the CEO of Vonova, a brain computer interface company that (unlike Neuralink) is enabling access to the brain without drilling a hole in your skull.
Wes joins Brom Rector and Sam Tabone to discuss:
(1:25) - how Wes got into neuro, background as a catheter engineer
(6:30) - how Wes’s parachute malfunction and resulting paralysis made him focused on the brain
(10:30) - how Wes met his cofounder
(14:00) - Wes demonstrating how his device treats chronic subdural hematoma
(18:00) - ancient Peruvian history of brain surgery + the problem of the skull
(22:30) - how does Vonova’s device actually work
(26:00) - Wes’s encounter with Lawrence Livermore National Labs
(28:00) - how Vonova is different than Neuralink
(35:00) - how Vonova could treat chronic pain
(38:00) - could Vonova’s device be used for Neurodegenerative disease
(41:00) - how long does Vonova's device stay implanted?
(43:00) - Wes’s fundraising journey - the challenges of medtech
(47:30) - why wes is excited about drug device combos and a primer on the blood brain barrier + how Vonova could be used for drug delivery
(53:00) - could Vonova’s device be used for brain stimulation
(56:20) - how Vonova’s device could help “solve” the brain + digital twins
(1:00:00) - Wes’s experience as a CEO + his first employee living on his couch for a year
(1:05:00) - does Wes think you need an MBA to start a company (hot take)
(1:08:00) - San Diego
Elliot Roth is the founder of the BioPunk community lab. He believes that biotech is broken and that "BioPunks" can fix it. Elliot sits down with Brom Rector and Sam Tabone to discuss:
(0:00) - what is BioPunk
(6:15) - steel-manning the status quo
(13:45) - how can institutions be more BioPunk
(21:30) - is the BioPunk ethos even compatible with the VC model?
(26:20) - what will the world look like when the BioPunk movement succeeds?
(37:00) - how BioPunk can succeed where academia has failed
(45:30) - how Elliot and the BioPunks want to change the system
(1:01:00) - Elliot’s take on DeSci and Crypto in bio
(1:08:00) - Elliot’s take on Longevity and Bryan Johnson
(1:15:00) - Elliot's all Algae Diet
(1:20:00) - Why Elliot has a magnet in his finger
Check out the BioPunk lab here: https://biopunklab.com/
Ben Woodington is the cofounder and CEO of Coherence Neuro. Coherence's lead product, the SOMA-1, is a brain computer interface (BCI) that is designed to treat Glioblastoma (a type of brain cancer). Coherence's cancer focus sets them apart from other BCI companies like Neuralink and Synchron. Ben joins Brom Rector on the podcast to discuss:
(0:00) - Intro
(1:38) - What does BCI (brain-computer interface) even mean?
(3:55) - The deadly brain cancer that Coherence is treating
(8:01) - How can you treat cancer with electricity?
(9:54) - Coherence’s billion dollar comp
(12:52) - How does the Coherence device actually work?
(19:00) - How MRI makes brain computer interface
development difficult
(20:30) - Ben’s startup journey
(21:30) - How implants are more convenient than drugs
(24:55) - Is neurotech getting overhyped?
(28:04) - Are the obvious ideas taken?
(29:00) - What will enable the next generation of BCIs?
(30:30) - What is the best dimension along which to analyze BCIs?
(33:36) - Will people have multiple BCIs simultaneously?
(35:45) - Is it easier to get a device approved by the FDA than a drug?
(40:15) - When is Coherence’s first trial?
(42:00) - It’s capital allocators all the way down (clip)
(44:20) - Advice for PhD students considering starting a company
Check out Coherence here: https://coherenceneuro.com/
And check out Brom's VC fund, XEIA Venture Partners here: https://www.xeiavp.com/
Laura Hsieh is the founder of TippingPoint Biosciences, an epigenetic medicine startup that has developed a breakthrough method of drugging the entire chromatin network to create first-in-class epigenetic therapeutics. Laura sits down with Sam Tabone and Brom Rector to discuss:
(1:11) Laura’s background and the history of TippingPoint
(5:30) What is Epigenetics and what is Chromatin?
(10:30) What diseases are driven by Epigenetics and dysfunctional Chromatin?
(14:00) - TippingPoint’s platform and secret sauce
(19:10) - How TippingPoint runs high throughput screening
(23:00) - What is DIPG - the deadly pediatric brain cancer TippingPoint is treating?
(38:30) - What does “disease modifying” mean?
(40:00) - How TippingPoint’s technology can be applied to aging and longevity
(45:00) - What motivates Laura
(49:00) - Could epigenetic medicines be used for human enhancement? How does diet influence Epigenetics?
(55:00) - Academia vs the startup world: does the PhD experience prepare you to be a founder?
(59:00) - Laura’s advice for raising money and pitching VCs
(1:04:00) - Why we invested in TippingPoint
Check out TippingPoint: https://www.tippingpointbiosciences.com/
Brom Rector and Sam Tabone from XEIA get specific on what Human 3 actually looks like in practice by analyzing 10 startups through the Human 3 lens.
We analyze the companies on the 5 pillars of Human 3
Timestamps and companies mentioned:
0:00 - what defines a Human 3 startup?
16:00 - Mindstate Design Labs: AI designed psychedelic therapies
25:00 - Kadence Bio: treatment for premature ejaculation
34:20 - NeuroBionics: minimally invasive deep brain stimulation for Parkinson's
42:00 - Motif Neurotech: minimally invasive TMS for depression
51:45 - Xylo Bio: non-hallucinogenic psychedelics
1:01:45 - Pangea Bio: AI to identify natures hidden cures
1:11:00 - Kerna Labs: AI model to unlock the therapeutic potential of mRNA
1:20:00 - Superpower: concierge longevity medicine on your iPhone
1:30:00 - Coherence: closed loop neuromodulation to treat brain cancer (Glioblastoma)
1:40:27 - Beond: treating Opiate addiction with Ibogaine
1:52:00 - closing thoughts
Sam Tabone, Partner at XEIA joins Brom on the podcast to discuss XEIA's "Human 3" thesis.
Check out XEIA at https://www.xeiavp.com/
Timestamps
0:00 - why we created Human 3 - going from psychedelic medicine to the broader Human 3 space
8:00 - critiquing the Human 3 manifesto
12:00 regulatory and social drivers of Human 3
19:00 - what Human 3 is NOT
31:00 - what defines Human 3 / what Human 3 is?
50:00 - areas where Human 3 can make the biggest impact
58:00 - distribution shifting technologies 1:10:00 - how Human 3 is useful outside of Neuro
1:20:00 - closing thoughts
The Human 3 Manifesto:
Human 3: the new epoch of health, wellbeing and performance
While modern medicine (Human 2) benefited society in incalculable ways, it ultimately fell short of its promise because the available tools forced it to operate at an incremental pace with long feedback loops.Today, exponential technologies like AI - which can parse through terabytes of scientific literature and data in seconds - and brain-computer-interfaces, biosensors and CRISPR - which enable real-time, read-write access to our biology - promise to rapidly accelerate the scientific method flywheel and lead to an exponential explosion in health, wellness and performance.
Human 3 will elevate every area of health and wellbeing, but will have the biggest impact in areas where modern medicine has made the least progress: the mental health crisis, neurodegeneration, chronic disease and aging. These are the “focal points” of our investment strategy.
Human 3 is not a “sector” - our companies combine life sciences, AI, hardware, software, deep tech & health tech in novel ways that often defy conventional categorization. Human 3 is a philosophy of vitality. It is a knowing that the “user experience” of the human body and mind is long overdue for an upgrade. It is the willingness to build and invest in that future. This is Human 3.
This movement marks the third great epoch of human health:
Marcus Capone is founder of TARA Mind. TARA Mind is an employee benefit provider that allows companies of all sizes to offer Ketamine therapy to their employees as a mental health benefit.Marcus is also the Chairman and Co-Founder of VETS: Veterans Exploring Treatment Solutions, VETS is a non profit that provides resources, research, and advocacy for U.S. Special Operations veterans seeking alternative mental health treatments. Marcus is a Veteran Navy SEAL, Marcus retired from active duty in 2013, after several tours at SEAL Teams 10 and 6.More on TARA Mind: https://www.taramind.com/
XEIA Venture Partners (Brom's VC fund) is an investor in TARA Mind: www.xeiavp.com
Amit Deshwar is the Founder & CTO of Kerna Labs. Backed by Gradient Ventures (Google's AI fund), Kerna Labs is building foundational AI models that aim to unlock the full potential of mRNA as the universal toolkit for genetic medicine. Kerna Labs' CSO is Melissa J. Moore, the former CSO of Moderna who helped lead the development of the Moderna COVID vaccine. Topics include:
Kerna Labs; https://kernalabs.ai/
Amit Deshwar: https://x.com/amitdeshwar
Brom Rector: https://x.com/therealbrom
Ramsay Brown, founder of Mission Control - a leading provider of AI agents / synthetic workers to the defense industry, joins us to discuss the end of the Anthropocene, what a world filled with synthetic labor looks like, Project Stargate, Trump and AI, why you need to be Rick Rubin and more. Learn more about Mission Control at https://usemissioncontrol.com/ Follow Rams on X: https://x.com/_ramsaybrown Follow Brom on X: https://x.com/therealbrom
Dillan DiNardo, the founder and CEO of Mindstate Design Labs, a drug development company using AI to enable the precision design of altered states of consciousness joins the podcast to discuss the state of psychedelics, AI, consciousness, why Marc Andreessen hates psychedelics, and the intersection of all these things. Follow Brom on Twitter: https://twitter.com/therealbrom Learn more about Mindstate: https://www.mindstate.design/ Brom is the founder of focalpoint partners: https://www.focalpointlp.com/
Today’s guests are MJ Antonini & Nicki Driscoll, the founders of NeuroBionics, a neurotech startup out of MIT. NeuroBionics is making Deep Brain Stimulation minimally invasive though the development of nano fibers that are 10X thinner than traditional Deep Brain Stimulation leads - allowing them to be inserted endovascularly into the brain. Check out NeuroBionics at https://neurobionics.io/
Lars Wilde is the cofounder of Pangea Bio - startup that uses AI to identify natural compounds and traditional remedies that may have medical applications. Prior to starting Pangea, Lars cofounded Compass Pathways and ATAI life sciences, both of which IPOd on the NASDAQ.
Can a succulent plant from South Africa treat premature ejaculation? John Boghossian and Dr Ryan Protzko from Kadence Bio think so.
Can brain implants treat your depression? Ok, technically this would be a skull implant, not a brain implant - but still!
Jacob Robinson from Motif Neurotech discusses the future of minimally invasive electronic medicine from mental health and beyond.
This is a crossover episode from the Business Trip podcast.
Will MDMA and psychedelic therapy be affordable? There are lots of questions about the economic and financial future of psychedelic therapies. How much will they cost? Will insurance cover them? And more fundamentally, how does one even begin to quantify the value of a psychedelic experience? Today’s guest, Elliot Marseille, PhD is here to explore all these questions and more. Dr. Marseille is a leading expert on the economics of the emerging psychedelic-assisted therapies. He is the founding Director of the UC Berkeley's Global Initiative for Psychedelic Science Economics (GIPSE), a network of health economists and health services researchers dedicated to realizing the potential of psychedelic therapies for high-priority mental health conditions. Through the application of policy-relevant economic analyses, GIPSE seeks to enhance the efficiency of service delivery, and increase access to these promising therapies. Follow Dr. Marseille's work: https://cghdde.berkeley.edu/projects/global-initiative-psychedelic-science-economics-gipse
🤖 ChatGPT & Dall-E today - misinformation, bias & worker displacement tomorrow. In a world where artificial intelligence is becoming increasingly advanced, it's more important than ever to ensure that AI systems are aligned with our values and behave in ways that are safe for humanity. But what exactly does it mean to align an AI system, and how do we go about ensuring its safety?
Here to answer these questions and more (including the most important question: will AIs take psychedelics?) is Ramsay Brown. Ramsay is the Founder of the AI Responsibility Lab (AIRL). AIRL builds venture-scale deep tech solutions for AI Safety and AI Resilience. AIRL's flagship product, Mission Control, integrates Responsible AI training, AI Risk Management, and AI Governance orchestration to drive fairness, explainability, and trust throughout the entire AI lifecycle.
Check out AIRL here: https://www.takecontrol.ai/
Ramsay on Twitter: https://twitter.com/_ramsaybrown
Brom on twitter: https://twitter.com/therealbrom
5:30 - What are the major concerns in AI safety?
10:30 - Examples of AI gone bad
16:00 - What is the hardest part of AI alignment?
21:00 - What is Ramsay’s unique angle on AI alignment?
24:00 - Is the world ready for conversations about responsible AI?
25:30 - Who is responsible for responsible AI?
32:00 - What regulations would Ramsay put into place?
41:00 - Eliezer Yudkowsky
47:00 - The era of synthetic labor
55:00 - The Turing Test is a red herring
1:04:00 - What jobs are safe from the AI takeover?
1:14:00 - Will machines do psychedelics?
Zach Haigney is the author of The Trip Report, a newsIetter that covers the emerging psychedelic science, medicine, and policy landscape. In this conversation, Zach and Brom discuss emerging trends, questions and hot topics in the psychedelics industry including:
We also discuss The Trip Report's recent acquisition by Beckley Waves.
You can check out The Trip Report here: https://thetripreport.substack.com/
Follow Zach on Twitter: https://twitter.com/zach_haigney
Follow Brom on Twitter: https://twitter.com/therealbrom
Make sure to subscribe to the show!
Sam Banister is a medicinal chemist and co-founder of Psylo. Psylo is an Australian psychedelic biotech company using machine learning assisted drug design techniques to developing novel psychedelic medicines to treat mental illness.
Sam is here to help us understand how new chemical entities are reshaping the psychedelic field; how novel psychedelic molecules are made, and how new chemical entities are going to play a dominant role in the future of psychedelic medicine.
Make sure to subscribe to the show!
Follow Brom on twitter: https://twitter.com/therealbrom
Follow Sam on twitter: https://twitter.com/samuel_b_phd
Brom's VC Fund: https://www.empath.vc
Highlighted Timestamps:
06:12 - Are next generation psychedelics taking over in 10 years?
16:10 - What is the process like for creating a new chemical entities?
50:39 - Psychedelics vs Cannabis: New drug discoveries
Mendel Kaelen is the CEO of Wavepaths. Prior to founding Wavepaths, Mendel Kaelen worked as a PhD and postdoctoral neuroscientist at Imperial College London since 2012, where his research was the one of the first to demonstrate music’s central role in psychedelic therapies. Wavepaths is a software platform that generates personalized, optimal music for psychedelic therapy.
0:00 - Why work on music and psychedelics?
3:30 - Highlights of Mendel’s academic career.
7:30 - Is there a universal “best” music for psychedelic therapy? How to design a psychedelic therapy playlist.
11:30 - What does the importance of music personalization mean for group psychedelic sessions?
16:00 - Should music for psychedelics be “familiar” to the patient, or novel?
20:00 - Vocals vs no vocals? It’s not that simple.
23:00 - Directive vs non-directive and concrete vs fluid music.
25:00 - Is the “right” music for psychedelics consistent across different drugs?
28:00 - How did Mendel switch from academia to startup founder.
30:30 - What is Wavepaths?
35:30 - Who is Wavepaths for?
37:00 - How do you sell music for psychedelic therapy?
39:00 - Surprising insights from Wavepaths customers?
43:30 - How does Wavepaths use biofeedback?
46:00 - Wavepaths direct to consumer.
49:45 - Startup life vs academia.
51:00 - Virtual reality and psychedelic therapy.
Tom Feegel is the Founder and CEO of Beond. Beond exists to help end the opiate addiction epidemic with safe ibogaine treatment.
In this episode Tom speaks on the severity of the opioid epidemic and explains how ibogaine assisted therapy can help heal those who are suffering from addiction. Tom gets into his personal story, how Ibogaine helped someone in his family, the economics of addiction treatment and Beond's plans to scale into a global operation.
Dillan DiNardo is the CEO of Mindstate Design Labs - a preclinical-stage biotechnology company developing the next generation of psychedelic-inspired therapeutics for intractable mental health conditions.
Mindstate's mission is to map the biological basis of the varieties of psychedelic experience, and to use that map to pharmacologically design therapeutic states of mind to be applied in medically supervised settings to heal the root causes of mental health disorders. Mindstate participated in Y Combinator in 2021.
Check out Mindstate @ https://www.mindstate.design/
Mental health treatment is often inaccessible, inadequate, and ineffective. However, Nue Life is working to change this through its 360-degree approach to patient health, leveraging ketamine and the integration of tech.
Check out Nue.Life here: https://nue.life/
⏰ Timestamps:
0:00 intro and Juan Pablo’s backstory
5:30 how Nue Life got started
11:00 the Nue Life patient experience
20:40 the intersection of data and mental health
32:30 competition in the Ketamine landscape
37:00 is ketamine addictive?
45:00 the future of at-home ketamine and the Ryan Haight act
49:15 legal psilocybin in Oregon?
53:30 what’s next for Nue Life?
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