Working with psychedelics: Laure Nolet
“I was always very interested in the research Clekenwell Health carried out and the innovative projects they were involved in. I wanted to be part of that.”
The Clerkenwell Health team keeps growing, most recently with the addition of Laure Nolet as Clinical Research Scientist. As a new generation of psychedelic scientists following the footsteps of British academics such as Robin Carhart-Harris, Laure joined Clerkenwell Health to explore the various indications psychedelic drugs can be useful for. We are excited to have her on the team and hear more about her insights on set and setting in psychedelic research.
“Clerkenwell Health has a great learning environment with lots of guidance, supervision, and different kinds of projects to put everything into practice. You get to work with the experts in the field in a warm and friendly environment.”
Having lived in three countries and studied in international schools, Laure has been following her passion for psychopharmacology in different cultural settings. She came to the UK to study neuroscience at University College London and completed her master's at Imperial College London, where she specialised in psychedelic drugs.
She worked at Imperial’s Centre for Psychedelic Research, studying the effects of psilocybin on music perception and how music influences psychedelic experience. That’s where she developed her qualitative research skills alongside quantitative ones.
She believes that having a setting conducive to therapeutic experience is very important for the success of psychedelic research. Music can be a great tool for that, but it is important to acknowledge it can be equally unhelpful, especially when it doesn’t resonate with people’s emotions or personal tastes. There is still so much to explore when it comes to how setting shapes psychedelic experience, she comments, and we need more qualitative studies to identify the different factors.
“We need to get the music right if we want to provide structure to psychedelic therapy, but not distance people from their experiences.”
Laure is closely involved in the design and delivery of clinical trials. She assists the team with research protocols, scientific advisory meetings, and literature reviews. Her insights into set and setting are already making a difference in how our clients think about their trials.
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About Clerkenwell Health
Clerkenwell Health is a consultancy CRO specialising in bespoke solutions for the development of psychedelic-assisted psychotherapies.
The team brings together decades of international regulatory affairs, clinical development strategy, clinical operations, and market access expertise. They support clients by identifying suitable indications, engaging regulators, designing clinically sound and scientifically robust study protocols, putting together and running safety monitoring boards, and submitting scientific grant applications. www.clerkenwellhealth.com