NCBS launches Rohini Nilekani Centre for Brain and Mind for Research on severe mental illnesses

NT Correspondent

Bengaluru: The National Centre for Biological Sciences (NCBS) on Tuesday announced the launch of the ‘Rohini Nilekani Centre for Brain and Mind', a centre dedicated to advancing Indian research and practice pertaining to neurodevelopmental disorders and mental health.

The centre will focus on the long-term examination of environmental and genetic factors involved in brain development which underlie severe mental illnesses.

Rohini Nilekani, Chairperson - Rohini Nilekani Philanthropies, unveiled the plaque to mark the centre's inauguration in the NCBS campus here.

Those present on the occasion included Prof. K VijayRaghavan - DAE Homi Bhabha Chair, NCBS-TIFR, Prof. Sanjeev Jain - Emeritus Professor, NIMHANS, Prof. Mahendra Rao - Former Collaborative Science Chair, inStem & CEO, Implant Therapeutics, and Prof. Maneesha Inamdar - Director inStem.

The centre will support research through its partnership with the National Institute of Mental Health and Neurosciences (NIMHANS) and NCBS' therapeutic practices pertaining to five mental disorders: schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, addiction, obsessive-compulsive disorder, and dementia – conditions considered neurodevelopmental in origin, an NCBS statement said.

Speaking about the centre, Rohini Nilekani said, India has a significant number of people, around 193 million, dealing with mental illness.

The proportional contribution of mental disorders to the total disease burden in India had almost doubled since 1990, and this calls for urgent attention.

‘The Centre for Brain and Mind' will attempt to address this challenge by driving interdisciplinary research to understand the complexities of brain and mind conditions.

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