Synthetic Cannabinoids and Their Effects on T Cells with Lyndsay Avery, PhD

Lyndsay Avery is an immunologist specializing in T cell signaling. As a professor at Saint Michael’s College, her primary focus is training future scientists at the undergraduate level. In collaboration with fellow Saint Michael’s professor and CannMed Advisor Mark Scialdone, Lyndsay and her students conducted basic drug discovery research on synthetic cannabinoids through course-based undergraduate research experiences (CUREs).

Lyndsay presented her team’s findings as at CannMed 26 in a poster presentation titled, “Hydrogenation of THCA results in stereoisomers with differing potency on T cell function and viability”.

During our conversation, we discuss:

What T cells do in the immune system and how their balance drives autoimmunity versus immunodeficiency

How a chemistry collaboration with Mark Sheldon pulled Lyndsay from mainstream immunology into synthetic cannabinoid research

What hydrogenation does to a cannabinoid’s chemical structure and why it may improve stability and bioavailability

How THCA’s carboxyl group lets it act on T cells without triggering CB1-driven psychoactivity

Why mirror-image (chiral) versions of the same hydrogenated compound produced very different effects on T cell death

How fluorinated analogs showed the opposite toxicity pattern in different cancer cell lines

Where the research is headed next

Thanks to This Episode’s Sponsor: CANN

Since 2015, CANN has been building a strong network of scientists in the cannabis space to promote scientific innovation, safety, and development through education, research, and the empowerment of the scientific community. To learn more about what CANN has to offer please visit their website at www.cann-acs.org.