In 2025, I had the opportunity to assist with a project involving iboga (Tabernanthe iboga), an evergreen shrub native to western equatorial Africa known for its hallucinogenic and oneirogenic (dream-producing) effects.
The bark and root of iboga contain alkaloids including the phytochemical ibogaine, which despite risky side-effects, can alleviate opioid withdrawal symptoms. Ibogaine and its chemical analogs are a hot topic among researchers aiming to develop new pharmaceuticals.
Among these researchers are Prof. Yang Qu and graduate student Jaewook (Jay) Hwang from University of New Brunswick, who sent plants to Calgary for analysis in Prof. Facchini’s laboratory. I performed the high-resolution mass spectrometry (HRMS) analysis for Jay, who tended to the young iboga plants, which arrived in Calgary a bit ragged-looking after a couple days travel. They looked much better after some R&R and a shot of fertilizer. The hard part for Jay was peeling off tiny bits of iboga bark for analysis without harming the young plants, but he succeeded, and we achieved some nice profiles. Turns out iboga makes quite a bit of stuff beyond ibogaine…a bonanza of cool phytochemicals.
Later on, I did a quick watercolour sketch of iboga which was used to illustrate a scientific article on psychedelics, now available here https://doi.org/10.1016/j.pbi.2024.102626.