Bengaluru's brain museum gaining popularity

It boasts over 400 brain specimens, some dating back to the 1970s

A viral social media post has renewed interest in the Human Brain Museum at NIMHANS.

The museum, which would earlier receive about 10,000 visitors in a year, is now getting hundreds of calls every week from eager citizens, says Dr Anita Mahadevan, coordinator of the Human Brain Museum and Bank.

Located on the ground floor of the Neurobiology Research Centre in NIMHANS, Hosur Road, the museum is open to the public Wednesdays and Saturdays. “We open it for the public for two hours on Wednesday and four hours on Saturday. Apart from this, it is open for school visits on Tuesday and Friday,” shares Dr Anita.

Started in 1974 by Dr S K Shankar for research and to help medical students, the museum houses over 400 specimens of human brains — about 200 are currently on display. The donated specimens are encased in formalin and neatly placed on shelves. The exhibits are segregated on the basis of diseases and injuries — from glioma to central nervous system infections. The first section includes several brain specimens with blotches of brown — the victims of accidents and head injuries.

Some specimens are accompanied with placards sharing tragic stories about how their owners met their demise. On display you will find the brain specimen of a three-month-old baby who fell from its cot, hitting its head on the floor. It died from sub-arachnoid haemorrhage. Specimen 13 belonged to a 25-year-old woman who presented with a headache, backache, fever and loose stools for four months. She later suffered significant weight loss and paralysis in both lower limbs, and eventually died of a cardiac arrest. Autopsy of the brain confirmed tuberculosis of brain and spine. Brain specimens of Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s disease, and fetal brains can also be found at
the museum.

“We see this as a temple of learning. It’s a great resource for children. Their textbooks literally come alive. The main aim of the museum is to create awareness among citizens about the brain, its fitness and functions. We try to show what not wearing a seatbelt can do to your spinal cord and brain or the effects of hypertension. We want to demystify the brain,” Dr Anita tells Metrolife. NIMHANS faculty — doctors and scientific officers — offer guided tours of the museum, usually lasting between one to two hours.

In addition to the human brains, the museum also features the brains of birds and animals such as cow, parrot, monkey and snake. The museum also offers visitors the opportunity to touch and feel a real human brain. Additional exhibits include lungs, pancreas, kidneys, heart, voice box, liver, intestines and the human skeleton.

The museum is open to the public on Wednesdays (2.30 pm to 4.30 pm) and Saturdays (10.30 am to 12.30 pm and 2.30 pm to 4.30 pm), at Neurobiology Research Centre, NIMHANS, Hosur Road. For school and college visits write to [e-mail]. Entry free.

Bigger museum in the works

NIMHANS is currently setting up the Museum of Brain and Mind at the same campus. “It’s going to be much larger.
The newer museum will be more interactive and use augmented reality. We want to have dynamic models and hope to make people understand how the brain really works. That’s our director Dr Pratima Murthy’s vision,” shares Dr Anita. It is likely to open
in 2025.

Dearth of brain donors

In 2023, the Human Brain Bank at NIMHANS received less than 10 donors. “This year, we’ve finally crossed double digits. But it’s not enough. People often pledge for organ transplants, as it helps another individual. But many fail to realise that brain donation also does the same. Research is important. It’s not only those with diseases who can to donate. Healthy brain specimens are even more valuable for research which is based on comparison with “normal” to understand “abnormal”. Every researcher asks for age and gender matched normal brains,” explains Dr Anita.

For details, visit thenimhansbrainbank.in