The most comprehensive 3D high-resolution photos of the human foetal brain are released by IIT Madras
INN/Chennai, @Infodeaofficial
Using state-of-the-art Brain Mapping Technology created by Sudha Gopalakrishnan Brain Centre Researchers at IIT-M, 5,132 brain regions were digitally photographed at cell-resolution for the first time ever.
The world’s first research organisation to publish the most detailed 3D high-resolution photographs of the foetal brain is IIT Madras. Being the first of its kind anywhere in the world, this groundbreaking work from the Sudha Gopalakrishnan Brain Centre at IIT Madras pushes the boundaries of brain mapping technology and puts India in the elite league of brain mapping science.
This Data Set, termed ‘DHARANI’, is available open source (https://brainportal.humanbrain.in/publicview/index.html), making it freely available for all researchers world-wide.
Using state-of-the-art Brain Mapping Technology created by the Institute’s Sudha Gopalakrishnan Brain Centre, 5,132 brain regions have been digitally recorded for the first time in history. In addition to advancing the area of neuroscience, this work may result in the creation of treatments for illnesses that impact the brain.
This groundbreaking work represents the first time that India has produced such sophisticated human neuroscience data. The project was completed for less than a tenth of what it would have cost in Western nations. A multidisciplinary team at IIT Madras conducted the study, which included medical collaborations with Mediscan Systems, based in Chennai, and Saveetha Medical College Hospital, as well as researchers from South Africa, Australia, the United States, Romania, and India.
This research, led by Prof. Mohanasankar Sivaprakasam, Head, Sudha Gopalakrishnan Brain Centre, IIT Madras, is critical for India as the country accounts for nearly one-fifth of the world’s childbirths at 25 million each year (SOURCE – https://www.unicef.org/india/key-data#:~:text=With%20the%20birth%20of%2025,the%20world’s%20annual%20child%20births).
Understanding how the brain develops from foetus to child, adolescent, and young adulthood, as well as developmental diseases like autism and learning difficulties, is therefore crucial for the nation.
Kris Gopalakrishnan, a distinguished alumnus of IIT Madras and co-founder of Infosys, Premji Invest, Fortis Healthcare, and Agilus Diagnostics, and the Office of Principal Scientific Adviser to the Government of India provided support for this effort. The Centre teamed up with top AI startup NVIDIA to assist in processing these petabytes of brain data. Improvements to existing foetal imaging technology and the early detection and treatment of developmental abnormalities are the main uses for producing such high-resolution brain images.
SPECIAL JOURNAL ISSUE
These findings of this Research has been accepted for publication as a Special issue by Journal of Comparative Neurology, a century-old peer-reviewed systems neuroscience journal.
“DHARANI is now the largest publicly accessible digital dataset of the human foetal brain, created with less than one-tenth of the initial funds that powered the Allen Brain Atlas, and with a technology platform that was entirely custom-made in India between 2020 and 2022, during the Covid pandemic,” explained Dr Suzana Herculano-Houzel, Editor-in-Chief, Journal of Comparative Neurology, in an explanation of the significance of this research. Thus, India joins the US and IIT Madras at the table of human brain cartography, where significant resources are spent to give the public access to openly accessible atlases of the body of knowledge regarding the structures that make up the human brain.
In order to support a massive multidisciplinary endeavour in the domains of science, technology, computing, and medicine, as well as to map human brains at the molecular level, the Sudha Gopalakrishnan Brain Centre was established in 2022.
“I am delighted that India is at the forefront in generating human foetal brain maps for the first time through this cutting-edge technology developed by IITM’s Brain Centre,” said Prof. Ajay Kumar Sood, Principal Scientific Adviser to the Government of India, congratulating the researchers on their innovative work. We are happy that our office’s assistance has sparked this innovative endeavour that is expanding scientific understanding in this cutting-edge field of brain sciences and has produced a global resource for researchers everywhere.
‘KEY GLOBAL RESEARCH RESOURCE’
This thorough cell resolution atlas of the human foetal brain in the second trimester was produced by the Sudha Gopalakrishnan Brain Centre. Over 500 brain regions have been identified and mapped in this comprehensive atlas, which will be a valuable worldwide resource for furthering human neuroscience research for many years to come.
Prof. Mohanasankar Sivaprakasam, Head of the Sudha Gopalakrishnan Brain Centre at IIT Madras, went on to explain the significance of the study, saying, “This study will pave way for new scientific discoveries, allowing quantification of neurodevelopmental disorders and advances in foetal medicine.” This 20X increase in information has made it the largest publicly available digital dataset of the human foetal brain. For the first time, India has produced such cutting-edge human neuroscience data and made it publicly accessible as a global resource.