The Discovery of Potential New Antidepressant Compounds from Mushrooms Native to British Columbia

Mental illnesses, particularly depression, is one of the leading causes of global disease burden. In addition to reducing the quality of life of patients and their relatives, it costs billions of dollars annually to the Canadian economy. Unfortunately, current antidepressant drugs are barely satisfactory and have numerous side-effects. The goal of this project is to discover potential new antidepressant drugs from wild mushrooms native to British Columbia. This is in line with Translational Life Sciences (TLS) Inc., a drug discovery biotechnology company in Vancouver that is interested in finding new psychedelic/antidepressant compounds. TLS will have the proprietary rights to any discovered compounds and is therefore expected to benefit financially in the near future.

Faculty Supervisor:

Chow Lee

Student:

Noburo Kato

Partner:

Translational Life Sciences Inc

Discipline:

Biochemistry / Molecular biology

Sector:

Professional, scientific and technical services

University:

University of Northern British Columbia