Chennai:
What does the human brain look like at different stages of life, down to its individual cells? Could a detailed map of the brain help doctors better understand diseases, plan surgeries, and eventually develop more effective treatments?
The Sudha Gopalakrishnan Brain Centre at IIT Madras is seeking to answer these questions by creating detailed three-dimensional maps of 100 human brains, ranging from a foetus to an 85-year-old person.
Launched recently by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the project is being touted as a global first in its effort to map entire human brains at cellular resolution across the lifespan.
The three-dimensional reference map of the human brain will show its structures and cells, how they are organised, and how they change as a person grows older.
"Today, we don't have a detailed view of how a human brain and its structures look across the lifespan," Professor Mohanashankar Sivaprakasam, head of the Sudha Gopalakrishnan Brain Centre, told NDTV.
"The brain evolves continuously, unlike other organs. We need a map of how the brain looks at various ages. Only then will we be able to translate this into medicine," he said.
How Do You Map A Human Brain?
The process begins by freezing a donated brain so that it can be cut into extremely thin sections, each measuring between 10 and 20 microns - roughly one-tenth the thickness of a human hair.
Each section is then imaged, and the resulting information is assembled to reconstruct the brain as a detailed 3D model.
According to Sivaprakasam, an adult brain can yield between 8,000 and 10,000 sections, while a foetal brain may require around 3,000 sections and a young child's brain approximately 5,000.
The centre has developed and customised its own instruments and systems to carry out this process at an industrial scale.
"We need a technology that would section the brain into very thin slices, image each section and put it back as a large 3D map," he explained.
Unlike conventional brain imaging, which provides a view of the brain in a living patient, this project seeks to establish detailed reference maps of the brain's physical structures at cellular resolution.
An MRI scan typically provides information at the millimetre scale. The new atlases offer a finer view of the brain's cellular architecture, potentially revealing details that conventional imaging cannot resolve.
Why Map Brains From Foetus To Old Age
The project aims to understand how the human brain's structures develop, change and age.
A foetal brain, a child's brain and an older person's brain differ significantly in their organisation and development. Building reference maps across these stages could help scientists identify what is typical at different ages and better understand where and how abnormalities emerge.
The centre's first set of maps, called DHARANI, was released in 2025. According to Sivaprakasam, the foetal brain atlas has since become widely referenced internationally.
The professor said the centre intends to make all its maps publicly available, allowing researchers and medical institutions around the world to use them.
The work brings together around 200 scientists, spanning life sciences, medicine, engineering, computing and artificial intelligence - disciplines that have traditionally often worked in separate silos.
"In neuroscience, the whole world is behind. The call is to do research at the intersection of neuroscience and engineering," he said, describing the need for interdisciplinary work to tackle one of science's most complex challenges.
One way to understand the significance of this work is to compare neuroscience with cardiology.
Cardiology and cardiac surgery have advanced considerably, helped by a detailed understanding of the heart's structure and functioning. The brain, meanwhile, remains far less understood.
Could The Maps Help Treat Brain Diseases?
The potential medical applications are significant, although the maps themselves are not treatments.
A more detailed understanding of brain structures could help researchers investigate conditions ranging from developmental disorders and stroke to neurodegenerative diseases.
The centre is also studying the molecular characteristics of different brain regions through RNA sequencing. By understanding which molecular processes operate in specific regions, scientists hope to identify potential targets for developing drugs against various diseases.
The atlases could also support neurosurgeons by providing detailed structural reference maps to help them understand the areas they operate on.
"We are now able to create reference maps of the brain at cellular-level details," Sivaprakasam said.
The centre is working with more than 10 medical institutions, including CMC Vellore, KMC and Saveetha, to strengthen the research and its potential clinical applications.
Mapping A Brain Affected By Stroke
One of the key developments unveiled by the Prime Minister was C-STROKE, described by the centre as a first-of-its-kind atlas mapping an entire human brain affected by stroke.
C-STROKE allows researchers to examine the affected region in the context of the entire brain, at different levels and from different angles.
"We have the entire view of the whole human brain at any level and angle, including the stroke-affected region," the professor said.
That information could help scientists identify promising drug targets and better understand why stroke affects different people in different ways.
AI, Data And The Nobel Ambition
Mapping an entire brain at cellular resolution generates vast quantities of information - petabytes of data, according to the professor.
To make this usable, the centre has built a visualisation platform through which researchers can explore the maps. Artificial intelligence is expected to play a role in visualising the data, detecting patterns, identifying discoveries and analysing structures across different scales.
The centre has also developed an AI research assistant that allows users to pose questions, helping them navigate the enormous volume of information.
Sivaprakasam said several visiting Nobel laureates had remarked that the platform had the potential to support work of the kind that could lead to a Nobel Prize.
The professor, however, framed the ambition in terms of scientific impact rather than awards.
"We want to advance science in a significant way. If we do, the rest will follow," he said.