Foodie Pharmacology

Could centuries of traditional plant knowledge help scientists discover the next generation of medicines for the brain? In this episode of Foodie Pharmacology, Dr. Cassandra Quave speaks with chemist and neuroscientist Dr. Jacob Hooker, co-founder and CEO of Sensorium Therapeutics, about a new approach to finding treatments for anxiety and other neurological and psychiatric conditions. Dr. Hooker explains how Sensorium combines ethnobotanical records, chemical data, medicinal chemistry, and artificial intelligence in a vast computational knowledge graph. By mapping relationships among plants, molecules, human experiences, and biological activity, researchers can uncover patterns and prioritize promising natural products for investigation. The conversation also explores why so many medicines affecting the brain have roots in nature and why psychoactive compounds need not be psychedelic or hallucinogenic. They examine Cobenfy, a recently approved schizophrenia treatment with roots in the chemistry of the betel