Mr Aedan O'Shea (A.)

My name is Aedan, from Wexford, Ireland, and I’m currently a PhD candidate in the Department of Translational Genomics (TGX), specialising in transcriptomics. My project, titled ‘Novel Behavioral and Molecular Biosignatures for Future Patient Stratification in Psychedelic Medicine’, is funded by the Centre for Integrative Neuroscience (CIN). This inter-faculty project, shared between the Faculty of Health, Medicine and Life Sciences (FHML) and the Faculty of Psychology and Neuroscience (FPN), focuses on studying the molecular pathways involved in the therapeutically relevant effects of psychedelics. The goal is to inform future transdiagnostic applications for these compounds.

My early interest in psychopharmacology led me to pursue a BSc. in Pharmaceutical Healthcare at the Technological University of Dublin (TUD) from 2016 to 2020. In that time, I developed a deeper understanding of drug mechanisms and was introduced to bioinformatics through Computer Aided Drug Design techniques, which I explored in my Bachelor thesis focused on antipsychotics targeting the Serotonin-2A Receptor. Following this, I joined the Research Master in Cognitive and Clinical Neuroscience, specialising in Drug Development and Neurohealth, here in Maastricht University from 2021 to 2023. For my master’s thesis, I utilized Liquid-Chromatography Mass-Spectrometry (LC-MS) to perform bioanalysis, focusing on investigating biological markers of a neurological disorder for Janssen Pharmaceutica.

I have a longstanding interest in unravelling the therapeutic mechanisms of Psychedelics. In the current project I will investigate the effect of Psychedelic drug exposure in humans on behaviour and miRNAs transported in neuron-derived extracellular vesicles (exosomes).