Primary research areas

• Psychosis
• Schizophrenia
• Cannabis
• Neuropharmacology
• Preclinical research

About Alasdair M. Barr, Ph.D.

• Investigator, BC Mental Health and Substance Use Services Research Institute
• Investigator, BC Children's Hospital Research Institute
• Associate Professor, Department of Anesthesiology, Pharmacology and Therapeutics, University of British Columbia
• Member, David Mowafaghian Centre for Brain Health

Over the course of his career, Dr. Barr has studied psychosis in three different forms, including schizophrenia, psychosis induced by psychostimulants (e.g., methamphetamine) and the post-operative delirium that occurs following cardiac surgery. 

Originally from the United Kingdom, Dr. Barr moved to Vancouver to complete his Ph.D. in neuroscience at the University of British Columbia. He followed with postdoctoral research on developmental neurobiology and molecular psychopharmacology at the Scripps Research Institute and at UC San Diego in Southern California. Currently, he is a tenured associate professor in the Department of Anesthesiology, Pharmacology and Therapeutics at UBC. 

Some of his recent projects include a role as co-principal investigator (with Dr. Diane Fredrikson from UBC’s Department of Psychiatry) in a pharmaceutical-sponsored phase two drug trial testing a new medication that may improve cognition in persons living with schizophrenia. 

“This represents one of the greatest unmet needs in the treatment of psychosis,” Dr. Barr says. “There have been few new drugs to treat schizophrenia for the past several decades, and none exist to improve cognitive function.” He says results of the first phase two study, published in Lancet Psychiatry publication, appear “extremely promising.”

Additional work related to psychosis includes industry-sponsored drug development projects in collaboration with local biotechnology companies. In 2020, these included ongoing studies to develop new ways to increase the amount of the cannabis compound cannabidiol that reaches the brain. The compound has been shown to have antipsychotic effects. 

Another industry-sponsored study, approved in 2020, will look at the potential of psilocybin – the active ingredient in “magic mushrooms” – to cause weight loss in persons experiencing obesity. “If the preclinical research is successful, psilocybin might represent a powerful new agent to improve metabolic health in patients who are being treated with antipsychotic drugs, with the potential additional benefits of having antidepressant effects at the same time,” Dr. Barr says. 

Current projects 

One of Dr. Alasdair Barr’s current projects is studying the side effects of anti-psychotic drugs used to treat schizophrenia and other mental health conditions, such as bipolar disorder, depression and behavioural problems in youth. 

“People who take these drugs tend to develop a set of specific side effects,” Dr. Barr says. “We call this metabolic syndrome. It is a cluster of changes to metabolic health. And these put you at much greater risk for developing type 2 diabetes and heart disease.” 

Studies show that people living with schizophrenia live 20 years less on average than the general population, in large part because of the side-effects of these medications. 

“We’re trying to understand the physiology that underlies these side effects. For example, people who take these medications will gain weight. They’ll have higher glucose levels, their cholesterol goes up. If we can figure out what causes this, we can hopefully create new drugs that don’t cause this problem or find ways to prevent these side effects from occurring.”

Recent publications