Vern Lewis, PhD

About

Current pharmacotherapies for major depression disorder and major anxiety disorder have problematic disadvantages, the most important being high resistance in the population. Novel treatments such as the hallucinogens (i.e. LSD, Psilocybin (Psilocin), Ketamine), while robust, possess their own weaknesses such as the potential for abuse and the strain of hallucinogenic side-effects on healthcare infrastructure. In recent years there has been a push to find novel, so-called next-generational psychedelic treatments that retain the positive anti-depression or anxiolytic properties without the hallucinogenic side-effects. My current work in the lab of Dr. Argel Aguilar Valles at Carleton University involves utilizing molecular neurobiology and behavioural neuropharmacology to study the effects of psychedelic compounds on neuroplasticity and depression-like behaviour in murine models.

Work

Under construction.

Under construction.

Pubs

Lewis, V., & Aguilar-Valles, A. Cortical transcriptomic effects of the non-hallucinogenic 2-Bromo LSD. In Preparation.

Lewis, V., Rurak, G., Salmaso, N., & Aguilar-Valles, A. (2024). An integrative view on the cell-specific mechanisms of ketamine’s antidepressant action. Trends in Neuroscience, S0166-2236(23)00291-6.

Bonniwell, E.M., Lewis, V., Jaster, A.M. … McCorvy, J.D., & Aguilar-Valles, A. (2023). 2A and Beyond! Psychedelic Action at the 5-HT2A and other receptors. Journal Of Neuroscience, 43 (45) 7472-7482.

Lewis, V., Bonniwell, E. M., ... Halberstadt, A. L., Aguilar-Valles, A., & McCorvy, J. D. (2023). A non-hallucinogenic LSD analog with therapeutic potential for mood disorders. Cell reports, 42(3), 112203. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.celrep.2023.112203

Lewis, V., Rodrigue, B., Arsenault, E., Zhang, M., Taghavi-Abkuh, F. F., Silva, W. C. C., Myers, M., Matta-Camacho, E., & Aguilar-Valles, A. (2022). Translational control by ketamine and its implications for comorbid cognitive deficits in depressive disorders. Journal of neurochemistry, 10.1111/jnc.15652. Advance online publication. https://doi.org/10.1111/jnc.15652

Lewis, V., Laberge, F., & Heyland, A. (2021). Transcriptomic signature of extinction learning in the brain of the fire-bellied toad, Bombina orientalis. Neurobiology of learning and memory, 184, 107502. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.nlm.2021.107502

Lewis, V., Laberge, F., & Heyland, A. (2020). Temporal Profile of Brain Gene Expression After Prey Catching Conditioning in an Anuran Amphibian. Frontiers in neuroscience, 13, 1407. https://doi.org/10.3389/fnins.2019.01407

Lewis, V., & Richards, M. H. (2017). Experimentally induced alloparental care in a solitary carpenter bee. Animal Behaviour, 123, 229. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.anbehav.2016.11.003

Edwards, B. A., V. R. E. Lewis, F. H. Rodd & D. A. Jackson, 2013. Interactive effects of calcium decline and predation risk on the potential for a continuing northward range expansion of the rusty crayfish (Orconectes rusticus). Canadian Journal of Zoology 91: 328.

Stephenson, R., & Lewis, V. (2011). Behavioural evidence for a sleep-like quiescent state in a pulmonate mollusc, Lymnaea stagnalis (Linnaeus). The Journal of experimental biology, 214(Pt 5), 747. https://doi.org/10.1242/jeb.050591

Methods

My work in the AV lab, investigating the ameliorative effects of hallucinogens on psychiatric disorders, involves a wide selection of molecular and behavioural methodologies.

Behavioural assays

The behavioural assays we employ include Forced Swim, Open Field, Splash, and Sucrose Preference tests, to name a few. Image courtesy of Andre Telfer, Website.

Molecular Neurobiology

We also utilize a number of molecular techniques from Western Blots to RNA sequencing.

Imaging

Contact

Elements

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