Hello! I'm Eileen Gong! My project aims to develop a mathematical model that predicts the intensity of psychedelic effects from psilocybin based off the concentration of its active component, psilocin, that is circulating in the bloodstream.

While current research has created charts detailing information of time against blood concentration and time against subjective effects, no one has created a comprehensive equation that connects the two individually. Using data from published clinical trials, I’m creating a pharmacokinetic-pharmacodynamic (PK-PD) model that traces the pathway, starting with the orally taken dose to blood concentration and finally to subjective effect
intensity. The main focus will be determining the time lag between psilocin levels peak in the blood and when effects peak in the brain. This research connects pharmacology with applied mathematics to create a framework for moving beyond dose-response relations to mechanistic, predicative modeling.

My final product will be a pharmacodynamic equation that relates oral dosage to blood concentration and a PK-PD model that relates blood concentration to subjective effects upon the brain. There will also be graphs showing model predictions compared to actual clinical data in order to demonstrate the model’s fit. Optimally, I will also create a dosage table showing “for average adult, dose x produces peak effects of y at time z” that researchers can reference for future psilocybin studies.