Recently, the Sudha Gopalakrishnan Brain Centre of IIT Madras released the "most detailed 3D High-Resolution images" of the fetal brain, thereby pushing the frontiers of brain mapping technology that places India in the global league of brain mapping science. Scientists associated with the project say this is "the first-of-its-kind work anywhere in the world."
This data set, termed ‘DHARANI’, is available open source, which means it is freely available for all researchers worldwide.
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For this project, 5,132 brain sections have been captured digitally using cutting-edge brain mapping technology developed by the Institute, said experts in a press conference held by the institute on Tuesday.
This work which involves advanced neuroscience data will lead to the development of treatment for health conditions affecting the brain, said scientists from IIT Madras.
The project was done at less than 1/10th of the costs in Western countries, and research was undertaken by a multidisciplinary team at IIT Madras with researchers from India, Australia, the US, Romania and South Africa.
Given that India accounts for nearly one-fifth of the world’s childbirths at 25 million each year, as per data shared by UNICEF, this development is crucial in understanding the development of the brain across various stages - from fetus to adolescence to young adult, and developmental disorders like learning disabilities and autism.
The findings of this research are due to be published in the Journal of Comparative Neurology, a neuroscience-focused journal.
DHARANI is now the largest publicly accessible digital dataset of the human fetal 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.
Kris Gopalakrishnan, IIT Madras Distinguished Alumnus and Co-Founder, Infosys, added, “This accomplishment reconfirms that Indian R&D can create world-class science and technology. It also demonstrates the success of a unique public-private-philanthropy-partnership (PPPP) model.”
“We must dream big to create global impact. Ambitious research programs are multi-disciplinary and multi-year, and I hope this program inspires more such programs in India and will get private and public support,” he added.
The Sudha Gopalakrishnan Brain Centre has created this comprehensive cell resolution atlas of the human fetal brain in the second trimester. This detailed atlas, where the researchers have identified and marked over 500 brain regions, will serve as an important global reference for advancing human neuroscience research for decades to come.
Professor Mohanasankar Sivaprakasam, Head, Sudha Gopalakrishnan Brain Centre, IIT Madras, said, “This study will pave the way for new scientific discoveries, allowing quantification of neurodevelopmental disorders and advances in fetal medicine. This is now the largest publicly accessible digital dataset of the human fetal brain, advancing current knowledge by 20X. This is the first time such advanced human neuroscience data has been produced from India and made freely available as a global resource.”
