Validating Endogenous DMT Biomarkers Across Stress Models

A Foundation for Protocol Development in the eDMT Commons

Funding Request: €30,000 (€15K per study)
Team Leads: Dr. Malin V. Uthaug (Maastricht University) & Lana Porter (Univ College London)

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Challenge:

Endogenous DMT is a promising target for consciousness research and human optimization, yet we face a critical bottleneck: we cannot reliably measure it in humans. Without validated biomarkers, we're navigating uncharted territory blindfolded, unable to assess what interventions modulate eDMT bioavailability, optimize protocols, or verify mechanistic claims.

Developing evidence-based products and protocols requires foundational measurement infrastructure. Currently, we're limited to phenomenological reports and theory. We need data.

Solution:

This proposal unites two separate yet complementary studies run by independent researchers and institutions under a single objective: validate a reproducible eDMT biomarker panel across distinct physiological stress contexts. By examining the same metabolic markers in two different stress models, these studies can:

• Establish measurement reliability across different potential eDMT release contexts
• Identify robust biomarkers that transcend context-specific confounds
• Create a standardized assay for future intervention studies testing compounds that modulate eDMT bioavailability

Specifically, the Maastricht team (lead by Dr. Malin Uthaug) has already completed pilot data collection on freediving, with preliminary results confirming robust stress activation (unpublished data). The UCL team (lead by Lana Porter) brings validated breathwork protocols and existing high-density EEG datasets for neural signature comparison, as well as a pilot experimental protocol for identifying potential eDMT-related biochemical causation in ASC during breathwork. Both teams will analyze the same tryptophan pathway metabolites (i.e., tryptophan, serotonin, tryptamines, DMT metabolites), enabling direct cross-study validation.

Why This Matters for PsyDAO:

Immediate value: Two peer-reviewed publications establishing measurement methods, expanding the Commons knowledge base, and positioning PsyDAO as a leader in eDMT research infrastructure enabling the respective research teams to lay the foundation for the field.

Strategic value: Validated biomarkers are prerequisite for everything downstream, such as screening compounds for their ability to enhance eDMT access, optimizing breathwork protocols, or developing retreat center offerings with measurable outcomes.

Competitive advantage: No other organization is supporting research to systematically validate eDMT measurement in humans. Funding this positions PsyDAO as the primary supporter of the methodological foundation as the field develops.

Team Leads:

Dr. Malin Vedøy Uthaug (Maastricht University & Embalance AS) is a leading researcher on naturalistic psychedelic use, altered states, as well as peak performance with extensive publications on primarily 5-MeO-DMT alongside, ayahuasca, psilocybin, mescaline and breathwork. She is a competitive freediver and also (co)developed bodyset (i.e., state of the body) and Pivotal Physical States framework.

Lana Porter (UCL & Ernst Stungmann Max Planck Society) is a breathwork practitioner and researcher at the Consciousness Research Centre and collaborates with the Max Planck Society's Zero Noise Lab. She is a study lead on the RESET Study at the Zero Noise lab, currently collecting the first high density EEG dataset of High Ventilation Breathwork.

Deliverables:

• Validated metabolite detection protocols for eDMT-related compounds in biofluids
• Peer-reviewed manuscripts establishing measurement feasibility and comparing biomarker profiles across paradigms; comparing the neural signatures of exogenous DMT and HVB, establishing phenomenological overlap
• Publicly available datasets for Commons use
• Next-phase study designs integrating underwater EEG (freediving) and pharmacological interventions (breathwork)
• Methodological foundation for testing products that modulate eDMT bioavailability

Budget Allocation:

• €15,000 to Dr. Uthaug et al. (freediving study, biomarker analysis, manuscript)
• €15,000 to Lana Porter (breathwork EEG analysis, pilot protocol dev, ethics prep)

Funding Source:

Funds will be initially drawn from the Science Treasury with an IOU against the eDMT Commons treasury. When eDMT Commons capital becomes accessible, the €30,000 will be repaid to the Science Treasury.

Individual Proposals:

• High on Your Own Supply? Assessing Endogenous DMT Bioavailability During High Ventilation Breathwork Proposal
  • Lana Porter, Dr Martha Havenith, Dr. Chris Timmerman
• Freediving as an Extreme Physiological Stress Model to Investigate Endogenous DMT-Related Mechanisms and Altered States of Consciousness
  • Dr. Malin Vedøy Uthaug, Dr. Jack Allocca, Vitomir Maričić, Dr. Attila Szabo, Professor Johannes Ramaekers