Award
National Institute of Mental Health 1R21MH144686-01
Psychedelic neuroplastogen rescue of cognitive flexibily in autism spectrum disorder
Recipient
University of Michigan at Ann Arbor
Award Amount
$429,000.00
Ceiling
$429,000.00
Awarded
July 28, 2026
Identifier
1R21MH144686-01
Research project funded by NIMH to study psychedelic drugs' potential to improve cognitive flexibility and neural circuit repair in autism spectrum disorder models.
Description
This project will investigate the ability of psychedelic drugs to normalize cognitive flexibility deficits and changes to prefrontal cortex circuits caused by Cntnap2 knockout (KO), a mouse model that captures some of the behavioral abnormalities associated with ASD, including cognitive rigidity. The study aims to test whether psychedelic treatment can improve reversal learning ability and repair PFC circuit structure and function in ASD models.