Centre for Brain and Mind to steer research on five mental disorders

Philanthropist Rohini Nilekani at the launch of the Centre for Brain and Mind on Tuesday. DH PHOTO/B K Janardhan

The National Centre for Biological Sciences (NCBS) on Tuesday announced the launch of the Rohini Nilekani Centre for Brain and Mind (CBM) to advance research on neuro-developmental disorders and mental health.

The centre, set up on a Rs-100 crore grant from the Rohini Nilekani Philanthropies (RNP), will take forward the ongoing research by Nimhans and NCBS, on five mental disorders — schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, addiction, obsessive compulsive disorder, and dementia.

Dr Pratima Murthy, director, Nimhans, told reporters that a key research goal would be to mark common symptoms that present across the disorders.

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“We are trying to see what the genetic mechanisms are, to see if we can make out from neuroimaging whether or not there are common risk factors. We now know that clinical symptomatology is not enough to understand why a particular disease manifests in a particular individual,” she said. Environmental factors, including life events and childhood stress, will also be examined.

Prof L S Shashidhara, director, NCBS, said the extension of research under CBM would involve a new cohort and a “new scale of activity”.

India, with around 193 million people dealing with mental illnesses, needed urgent interventions to address the challenge, Rohini, chairperson, RNP, said. She underlined capital infusion into research and said philanthropic support to primary research in India would also have a global impact.

In a milestone-based funding model, the grant to CBM will be released in parts, based on the progress made in research. The centre is expected to have about 100 staff.

CBM will anchor research that combines NCBS’ capabilities in molecular biological research with the stem cell capabilities of the Institute for Stem Cell Science and Regenerative Medicine (inStem), an autonomous institution under the Department of Biotechnology.

“That we have such a large number of patients who have enrolled for the study, and that we can follow them over so many years, gives us the opportunity to ask what are the predictors for the disease, and that is likely to be one of the major outcomes,” Prof Satyajit Mayor, distinguished professor at NCBS–Tata Institute of Fundamental Research, said.