Episode 23: Sam Banister - Pharmaceutical Psychedelics | Biotech Start-ups | Psylo

Curious to Serious

In this episode, I talk with Sam Banister.

He is the co-founder and Chief Scientific Officer at Psylo, a biotech company in Australia that develops different classes of pharmaceutical psychedelics to help treat patients with serious mental health disorders.

In our conversation, we talk about Sam’s journey into psychedelics by learning about Albert Hoffman and Timothy Leary in his teenage years.

We discuss Sam’s academic journey from an undergraduate degree in chemistry and pharmacology to a Ph.D. in medicinal chemistry to a postdoc at Stanford.

Sam offers valuable insight into the many roles of mentors and the value of building personal and professional networks.

He also speaks about how he transitioned from academia to the private sector by starting Psylo with Josh Ismin.

Finally, Sam reflects on Psylo’s future in the psychedelic world and the importance of the for-profit and non-profit sectors in future developments.

Time Stamps:

(4:35) What is Psylo?

(4:57) What is a biotech company? What does Psylo do in the biotech industry?

(6:26) How Psylo is unique from other biotech companies by focusing on the deregulation of the serotonin signaling systems in the body and developing three distinctive classes of drugs for mental health treatment

(16:18) Sam’s role at Psylo and what he does there

(20:53) How Sam became interested in drug development and psychedelics at a young age

(26:31) Sam’s college career of studying chemistry and pharmacology in his undergraduate, medicinal chemistry in his Ph.D., and landing a postdoc at Stanford

(32:05) How the higher education system works in Australia

(40:21) Important advice, lessons, and challenges related to mentors

(57:48) How Sam was recruited back to Australia to run an academic lab and then decided to move to the private sector and co-found Psylo

(1:02:41) Sam’s role in starting Psylo and adjustments he had to make to fit his new position

(1:12:00) The future of the psychedelic space - Psylo’s role in it, the cost of drug development, the role of for-profit and non-profits in the space, creating equitability through biotech companies

(1:24:32) Last piece of advice: “Find something you’re passionate about.”

(1:26:25) Contact information

Links:

Psylo website: https://psylo.bio

Psylo Merch: https://psylo.dasautomat.com

Psylo Twitter: https://twitter.com/psylo_bio

Psylo LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/psylo/

Email: [e-mail]

Sam’s LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sambanister/

Psychedelics Today’s Vital Course: https://www.psychedeliceducationcenter.com/a/aff_9p71gl26/external?affcode=80460_0s5vb-xp

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Music by: https://www.alexkahnmusic.com/

Presented by Psychedelic Grad.