IIT Madras creates world’s first high-resolution 3D fetal brain images

The Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Madras has made history by becoming the first research organisation in the world to release the most detailed 3D high-resolution images of the fetal brain, announced Director V Kamakoti on Tuesday.

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This groundbreaking achievement, led by the Sudha Gopalakrishnan Brain Centre at IIT Madras, marks a significant advancement in brain mapping technology and positions India at the forefront of global brain mapping science. The high-resolution fetal brain images offer promising applications in enhancing current fetal imaging techniques, potentially enabling earlier diagnosis and treatment of developmental disorders.

According to researchers, understanding brain development from the fetal stage through childhood and adolescence is crucial for addressing developmental disorders such as learning disabilities and autism. For the first time globally, 5,132 brain sections were digitally captured using the Brain Mapping Technology developed by Sudha Gopalakrishnan Brain Centre. This achievement could advance the field of neuroscience and contribute to the development of treatments for various brain-related health conditions.

This pioneering research represents the first time such advanced human neuroscience data has been produced in India. Remarkably, the project was completed at less than one-tenth of the cost typically incurred in Western countries. The research was conducted by a multidisciplinary team at IIT Madras, with contributions from researchers in India, Australia, the US, Romania and South Africa. It also involved medical collaborations with Chennai-based Mediscan Systems and Saveetha Medical College Hospital.

The findings have been accepted for publication in a special issue of the ‘Journal of Comparative Neurology’, a prestigious peer-reviewed journal in systems neuroscience. The data set, named 'DHARANI,' is now the largest publicly accessible digital dataset of the human fetal brain and is freely available to researchers worldwide.

"DHARANI was created with less than one-tenth of the initial funds used for the Allen Brain Atlas, using a custom-made technology platform developed in India between 2020 and 2022 during the pandemic," said Suzana Herculano-Houzel, Editor-in-Chief of the ‘Journal of Comparative Neurology’. "IIT Madras now joins the ranks of the Allen Brain Institute and India joins the US at the table of human brain cartography, where large investments are made to provide mankind with freely accessible atlases of human brain knowledge."

The Sudha Gopalakrishnan Brain Centre, launched in 2022, was established to spearhead large-scale, multidisciplinary efforts in science, technology, computing and medicine, with the aim of mapping human brains at the cellular level.