IIT Madras first research organisation to release 3D images of fetal brain

This monumental achievement marks the first time such advanced human neuroscience data has been produced in India, completed at less than 1/10th of the cost in Western countries

Indian Institute of Technology Madras (IIT Madras) has become the first research organisation in the world to release the most detailed 3D high-resolution images of the fetal brain, pushing the frontiers of brain mapping technology and placing India in the global league of brain mapping science.

 

This data set, termed ‘DHARANI’, is open source, meaning it is freely available for all researchers world-wide.

 

For the first time globally, 5,132 brain sections have been captured digitally using cutting-edge brain mapping technology developed by Sudha Gopalakrishnan Brain Centre at the IIT. This work will advance the field of neuroscience and potentially lead to the development of treatment for health conditions affecting the brain. 

 

 

The research was undertaken by a multidisciplinary team at IIT Madras with researchers from India, Australia, the US, Romania and South Africa, and medical collaborations with Chennai-based Mediscan Systems and Saveetha Medical College Hospital.

 

This research, led by 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.

 

This makes it vital for the country to understand the brain development from the fetus to a child, to adolescence, and to a young adult, and developmental disorders like learning disabilities and autism. 

 

The research was supported by the Office of Principal Scientific Adviser to the Government of India, Kris Gopalakrishnan, IIT Madras Distinguished Alumnus and Co-Founder, Infosys, Premji Invest, Fortis Healthcare and Agilus Diagnostics. NVIDIA, the leading AI company, partnered with the Centre to help process these petabytes of brain data.

 

The 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. 

 

Elaborating on the importance of this research, Suzana Herculano-Houzel, Editor-in-Chief, Journal of Comparative Neurology, said, “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. IIT Madras, thus, joins the Allen Brain Institute, and India joins the US, at the table of human brain cartography where large sums are invested to provide mankind with freely-available atlases of the available knowledge about the structures that compose the human brain.”

 

Congratulating the researchers on this cutting-edge work, Ajay Kumar Sood, Principal Scientific Adviser to the Government of India, said, “I am delighted that India is at the forefront in generating human fetal brain maps for the first time through this cutting-edge technology developed by IITM’s Brain Centre. We are pleased that the support from our office has seeded this pioneering effort advancing scientific knowledge in this frontier area of brain sciences, and has generated a global resource for researchers worldwide.”

 

Further, Gopalakrishnan, IIT Madras Distinguished Alumnus and Co-Founder, Infosys, added, “This accomplishment reaffirms 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.”

 

Further elaborating on the importance of this research, Mohanasankar Sivaprakasam, Head, Sudha Gopalakrishnan Brain Centre, IIT Madras, said, “This study will pave 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.”