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A dose of psilocybin, a dash of rabies point to treatment for depression

  • 6 days ago
  • 1 min read

December 5, 2025


An international collaboration led by Cornell researchers used a combination of psilocybin and the rabies virus to map how – and where – the psychedelic compound rewires the connections in the brain.


Specifically, they showed psilocybin weakens the cortico-cortical feedback loops that can lock people into negative thinking. Psilocybin also strengthens pathways to subcortical regions that turn sensory perceptions into action, essentially enhancing sensory-motor responses.


The findings published Dec. 5 in Cell. The lead author is postdoctoral researcher Quan Jiang.

The project is the latest in a trail of discoveries led by Alex Kwan, Ph.D. ’09, professor of biomedical engineering in Cornell Engineering and the paper’s senior author. Kwan’s lab studies the ways psychiatric drugs such as psilocybin, ketamine and 5-MeO-DMT rewire the brain’s neurological circuitry, with the goal of developing therapeutic treatments for depression.


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