Discover ASRI: Exploring Alexander Shulgin's Scientific Legacy With Over 500 Psychedelic Compounds

The Alexander Shulgin Research Institute (ASRI) shared updates on its ongoing and future projects in a conversation (see parts one and two) with Benzinga during Psychedelic Science 2023. 

ASRI was formally established in April 2021 by the widow of Alexander "Sasha" Shulgin, the pioneering psychedelics scientist along with chemists Paul Daley, Ph.D. and Nicholas Cozzi, Ph.D. It has since synthesized and supplied psychedelic compounds for chemical, pharmacological and clinical studies worldwide.

With an initial $7 million in seed funding, the institute, led by Cozzi, seeks to advance psychedelic science and promote public good “through a commitment to scientific excellence and high ethical standards.”

Cozzi told Benzinga that when ASRI first sought financing, the team talked to dozens of investors including firms, VCs and individuals. 

“Being affiliated with Sasha Shulgin kind of opens doors immediately, and so people were interested in hearing what we had to say,” Cozzi said. “And then when they saw our track record (including 30 years of publications,) they had confidence that we would be able to execute the work we said we would do. That facilitated the conversations, so it became more a matter of who would give us the best terms. Some people had strings attached or wanted certain milestones, and others were more like ‘just do your thing.’”

One of ASRI's projects involves a partnership with CaaMTech, by which the next-gen psychedelics development company received about a dozen of the over 500 Shulgin compounds fundamentally uncharacterized and unreported, and testing them on their psychoactive properties. 

“CaaMTech had a team in place to recrystallize these compounds and generate X-Ray crystal data, which is kind of the gold standard of structural determination,” Cozzi explained. Half of the compounds yielded atomic structures and IP, which both institutions now share. 

ASRI continues to supply psychedelic compounds to biopharma companies.

Shulgin’s Bequest

“I think he is well recognized,” Cozzi told Benzinga. “His name comes up in almost every talk I’ve heard [in Psychedelic Science]. He clearly was a giant, and a pioneer, in the field.”

Shulgin’s contributions extend beyond psychedelics research, impacting neuroscience as a whole. 

“Many of the compounds he’s made have been used as tools to study changes in consciousness and receptor binding. And some imaging agents that have been developed are actually his compounds, like 2-CI (related to 2-CB,) of which 'radioactive' forms have been made, and taken images of where the radioactivity is in the body,” Cozzi explained.

Outside the scientific world, people ranging in age between 40 and 80 might recognize his name more than younger people, considering that MDMA came into the public consciousness in the mid-80s-early 90s and the rave scene started to flourish, Shulgin was quite well known.

ASRI aims to carry on his legacy by developing new compounds and completing his unfinished projects. “Before he passed, we talked to [his wife] Ann about forming this institute, and she was thrilled. She said it was a dream come true for her for somebody to pick up his work and continue it on.”

Cozzi acknowledges that he wouldn’t be able to continue these projects without the teachings he received from Dave Nichols and Sasha Shulgin himself.

Photo: Benzinga edit with photo by Zolnierek on Shutterstock and Charlie Llewellin on Wikipedia.