The Sudha Gopalakrishnan Brain Centre at the Indian Institute of Technology Madras (IIT Madras) launched a mission on 11 October 2026 to create 3D maps of more than 100 human brains at cellular resolution. The brains span the whole lifespan, from foetus to old age, and include brains affected by neurological diseases.
The centre turns brains donated after death into 3D digital maps using its own imaging and computing platform. The maps are processed on the Param Shakti supercomputer. According to the institute, it will be the largest set of 3D whole-brain maps at cellular resolution.
The launch also unveiled C-STROKE, described as the world’s first atlas of a human ischaemic stroke. It combines MRI scans taken during life with microscopic images of the whole brain, in more than 1,000 annotated sections of one affected brain, and is open access for researchers and doctors.
Around 200 researchers, engineers and technicians work at the centre, together with more than 10 Indian medical institutions and over 30 researchers from more than 10 countries. The institute did not give a deadline for completing the 100-plus maps.
