Brain centre to map Human Brain at cellular level launched in IIT-Madras

The Indian Institute of Technology Madras recently launched the Sudha Gopalakrishnan Brain Centre which aims to map the human brain at the cellular and connectivity levels.

About the Sudha Gopalakrishnan Brain Centre:

• The centre will focus on high resolution imaging of whole human brain at 'cellular and connectivity level'.
• The centre aims to become a world-renowned research centre, generating 'unprecedented' amounts of human brain data, scientific output and technology tools.
• It has developed a high-throughput 'histology' pipeline that processes whole brains into high-resolution digital atlases.
• Through this technology platform, the centre is imaging post-mortem whole human brains of different types and ages.
• The centre will work with India's leading medical institutions and global leaders in brain mapping to become a globally renowned neuroanatomy research enterprise that generates sought-after human brain data and technology tools.

Significance:

• Data analytics and medicine: This project is about understanding the brain's anatomy, allowing researchers to find new applications and give better drugs and better interventions.
• Multi-disciplinary:
• IIT Madras plans to train hundreds of undergraduate and postgraduate students in neuroscience, computing and machine learning techniques on cutting-edge brain data.
• The centre will power a large-scale multi-disciplinary effort to map human brains at cellular level.
• It is supported by Infosys co-founder and IIT Madras' Distinguished Alumnus Kris Gopalakrishnan and his wife Sudha Gopalakrishnan. Since 2014, Gopalakrishnan has been involved in seeding research at the institute at the intersection of neuroscience and engineering.
• 'Knowledge economy':
• Entrepreneurs create the new generation of businesses, industry and companies; improve economic activity; and create wealth and jobs. They will create a new India.
• Scientists and engineers are a key part of creating a $5 trillion economy and then a $10 trillion economy because that's where the knowledge is created, the new intellectual property is created, and that's where this feeds in to the knowledge economy.