Proposal for supporting human brain imaging at brain centre
Principal Investigator
Prof. Mohanasankar Sivaprakasam
Objective
- To become a world-renowned brain research enterprise that generates globally sought after human brain data and technology tools, To map the human brain at an unprecedented cellular resolution, revolutionize neuroscience and neurotechnologies, and position India at the forefront of global brain research, To build an open-source, cellular-resolution brain atlas that includes diverse types of brains across age groups and neurological conditions, with each imaged brain adding critical data to a growing public repository, To image brains across developmental stages from fetal to elderly, and across neurodegenerative, neurodevelopmental, vascular, traumatic and psychiatric conditions, To ensure population diversity across sexes, ethnicities and socioeconomic backgrounds, including brains with comorbidities, so that the data is representative, To accelerate the effort to chart different types of human brain in order to tackle the most complex brain disorders of our time, To address the absence of population-specific Indian brain data in global brain reference models, which are currently based primarily on Western populations
Description
- The IITM Brain Centre is the first facility globally to begin imaging human brains at this resolution & scale. This initiative looks at building world's first open source platform of human brain data across diverse ages & neurological conditions.
Impact
- The data generated will form a reference standard for decades, akin to the Human Genome Project in genetics, and each brain dataset is a global scientific asset used by researchers worldwide, Indian-origin data will serve as the foundation for global research on conditions like Alzheimer's, dyslexia and neurodevelopmental disorders, Enables early diagnosis through AI-driven biomarkers, better treatment planning and personalized medicine, improved understanding of neurodevelopmental trajectories, and global reference datasets for scientists, clinicians and educators, Imaging of 50+ fetal brains at cellular resolution has advanced developmental neuroscience by an estimated 10 times, India is now positioned to leapfrog in brain research, ahead of countries still focused on animal brains, Addresses a global health crisis in which dementias affect over 55 million people worldwide with numbers projected to reach 139 million by 2050, stroke is the second leading cause of death, and nearly one in three people will experience a neurological or psychiatric disorder in their lifetime, Ensures that therapies and technologies are tailored to the Indian population scientifically, socially and economically