Chennai, Oct 11:
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday visited the Sudha Gopalakrishnan Brain Centre at the Indian Institute of Technology Madras (IIT-M), where he reviewed advanced research facilities and interacted with scientists working on cutting-edge studies of the human brain. Tamil Nadu Governor R N Arlekar and Chief Minister C Joseph Vijay accompanied him during the visit.
The Prime Minister was briefed on the centre’s research infrastructure and its efforts to combine engineering and neuroscience to understand the intricate structure and functioning of the human brain. Researchers explained the scientific methods being used to examine brain tissue at cellular resolution and develop detailed three-dimensional maps of the brain.
The visit highlighted IIT Madras’s work on a pioneering scientific initiative to create high-resolution, three-dimensional atlases of human brains. The project aims to map more than 100 human brains across different stages of life, from the foetal stage to old age, providing researchers with detailed information about the brain’s structure and development.
Scientists explained how the research could help improve understanding of the organisation of the human brain, its development and the structural changes associated with neurological conditions. The discussions also covered diseases such as Alzheimer’s and the potential applications of detailed brain maps in future medical research.
The centre’s work involves analysing brain tissue at an exceptionally fine level of detail, helping researchers study how individual cells and their organisation contribute to the functioning of the brain. Such research can provide valuable reference material for scientists investigating neurological disorders and identifying possible avenues for future diagnosis and treatment.
As part of the scientific programme, the centre has also developed C-STROKE, a human ischaemic stroke atlas containing more than 1,000 annotated microscopic sections from a stroke-affected brain. The resource is intended to help researchers examine tissue-level changes associated with stroke and investigate potential therapeutic targets.
The Sudha Gopalakrishnan Brain Centre represents an interdisciplinary research effort bringing together engineering, computational methods, imaging and neuroscience. Its work seeks to build detailed reference maps of the human brain that can be used by scientists in India and abroad.