In world's first, IIT Madras releases 3D high resolution images of Human Fetal Brain - WATCH

Chennai: The Indian Institute of Technology Madras (IIT Madras) on Tuesday announced that it has become the First Research Organization in the world to release the most detailed 3D high resolution images of the human fetal brain.

This pioneering work from the Sudha Gopalakrishnan Brain Centre of IIT Madras pushes the frontiers of Brain Mapping Technology and places India in the global league of brain mapping science as this is first-of-its-kind work anywhere in the world.

For the first time globally, 5,132 brain sections have been captured digitally using cutting-edge Brain Mapping Technology developed by the Sudha Gopalakrishnan Brain Centre, IIT-Madras Director Prof V.Kamakoti told a media conference.

This work will advance the field of Neuroscience and potentially lead to the development of treatment for health conditions affecting the brain.

The project was done at less than 1/10th of the costs in Western countries.

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

This research, led by Prof. Mohanasankar Sivaprakasam, Head, Sudha Gopalakrishnan Brain Centre, 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.

This work was supported by the Office of Principal Scientific Adviser to the Government of India, Mr. 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.