Gabriella Gobbi – Abstract – Genomic Press
Gabriella Gobbi
GABRIELLA GOBBI
MD, PhD  ·  McGill University
Montreal, Canada
Cannabis Psychedelics MT2 Receptors Translational Psychiatry Neuropsychopharmacology
Abstract
Gabriella Gobbi: Embracing psychiatry from bench to bedside
This Genomic Press Interview features Dr. Gabriella Gobbi, Professor of Psychiatry at McGill University, Canada Research Chair (Tier 1) in Therapeutics for Mental Health, Staff Psychiatrist at the McGill University Health Center (MUHC) and Senior Scientist, Brain Repair and Integrative Neuroscience Program at the MUHC Research Institute. Trained in medicine and psychiatry at the Catholic University of Rome and in neuroscience at the University of Cagliari, she completed her postdoctoral fellowship at McGill in 2001 and has remained there for more than two decades. She was the first woman elected President of the Collegium Internationale of Neuropsychopharmacology (CINP) in the organization’s 70-year history. Her research program operates across three interconnected translational domains. First, her laboratory established, in animal models and in human cohorts, that adolescent cannabis exposure increases vulnerability to depression, work that directly informed public health policy in Quebec, including raising the legal age of cannabis access and banning cannabis advertising. Second, in collaboration with medicinal chemists, her group discovered and patented novel selective agonists of the melatonin MT1 and MT2 receptors, elucidated the specific role of the MT2 receptor in restorative sleep and neuropathic pain, and is advancing a first-in-class MT2-selective partial agonist toward clinical development. Third, beginning in 2013, before the contemporary wave of clinical psychedelic trials, her laboratory characterized the anxiolytic and prosocial effects of LSD in preclinical models, identified underlying circuit-level and molecular mechanisms including mTORC1 signaling, and is now extending this work to psilocybin, DMT, and 5-MeO-DMT while initiating clinical studies to identify objective neurophysiological biomarkers of psychedelic action in humans. The author of more than 150 peer-reviewed publications, 20 book chapters, and one book, and the holder of multiple international patents, Dr. Gobbi has received recognition including the Venezia Prize (2015), the Samarthji Lal Prize from the Graham Boeckh Foundation (2017), the McGill University Principal’s Prize for Media Engagement (2019), the CINP Brain Research Award (2022), and the CCNP Award for Innovations in Neuropsychopharmacology (2022). She has testified as an expert witness before the Canadian Senate and the Quebec Ministries of Health and Justice on cannabis legislation. This Genomic Press Interview traces her intellectual formation from central Italy to Montreal, the bedside observations that generated her most consequential research questions, and her vision of a neuropsychopharmacology that remains simultaneously mechanistic, translational, and in the direct service of patients.

For more information on Dr. Gobbi’s life and career, read her Genomic Press Interview.

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Gabriella Gobbi – Genomic Press Interview
Gabriella Gobbi
GABRIELLA GOBBI
Embracing psychiatry from bench to bedside
First Woman
CINP
President
In 70-year history
150+
Publications
1,700+
Citations
Cannabis & Depression
28+
Years at McGill
CRC
Canada Research Chair
Tier 1: outstanding leaders
01
Cannabis & Depression
Translational Science
  • First to link adolescent cannabis use to depression-like outcomes in animal models (2010)
  • Landmark meta-analysis in JAMA Psychiatry confirming association in humans (2019)
  • Demonstrated disruption of serotonin and norepinephrine systems by cannabinoids
  • Findings directly raised the legal cannabis age from 18 to 21 in Quebec
  • Expert witness: Canadian Senate, Quebec Ministries of Health and Justice
02
Psychedelics & Anxiety
Neuropsychopharmacology
  • Began psychedelics research in 2013, ahead of the contemporary clinical wave
  • Established anxiolytic and prosocial effects of LSD in preclinical models
  • Identified mTORC1 signaling as a key mechanism of LSD action (PNAS, 2021)
  • Holds international patents on LSD therapeutic applications
  • Extending work to psilocybin, DMT, and 5-MeO-DMT with clinical biomarker studies
03
Melatonin MT2 Receptors
Drug Discovery
  • Collaborating with medicinal chemists since 2006 on novel MT1/MT2 receptor ligands
  • Defined MT2 receptor role in NREM restorative sleep and neuropathic pain
  • Discovered and patented novel selective MT1 and MT2 receptor agonists
  • Advancing first-in-class MT2-selective partial agonist toward clinical trials
  • Targets: sleep disorders, chronic pain, and orphan neuropsychiatric conditions
04
Vision & Leadership
Science & Society
  • Advocates urgently for structural reform of gender equity in academic science
  • Champions recognition of invisible service burdens placed on women researchers
  • Calls for patient-centered drug development free from short-term profit pressures
  • Awards: Venezia Prize, Samarthji Lal Prize, McGill Principal's Prize, CINP and CCNP Awards
  • Trilingual clinician-scientist; mentored generations of independent investigators
Gabriella Gobbi paddling on the Adriatic Sea
I have never followed the bandwagon in research. I investigate questions that arise from my clinical work. The projects that take the longest are often those that yield the most meaningful results.
🔬
Bench-to-Bedside
💊
Drug Discovery
🧠
Translational Psychiatry
⚖️
Policy Impact
🌿
Resilience
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