A repository for clinical and neuroimaging data
CALM-Brain - CBM - ADBS Longitudinal Multimodal - Brain dataset
CALM-Brain is India’s first-of-its-kind repository containing clinical, neuro-imaging, behavioural, genetic and other datasets on five mental disorders – addiction, bipolar disorder, dementia, obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD) and schizophrenia.
Phase-wise patient data gathering for the CALM-Brain was initiated in 2016 and continues till date.
Why is CALM-Brain important ?
This longitudinal study of the Indian population has data incorporated from multiple modes of studying brain function in neuropsychiatric diseases :
- Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (fMRI)
- Near Infrared Spectroscopy (NIRS)
- Electroencephalogram (EEG)
- Observations of cognition
- Eye-tracking
- Genetic analyses of blood samples and
- Clinical assessments.
This dataset is linked to a biorepository of stem cells, which can be used to perform biology research in psychiatry to understand the origins of such severe mental illnesses.
By studying such large numbers of families with both mental illness-affected and unaffected members, scientists envision being able to ascertain robust methods of identifying key neurocognitive biomarkers early on.
This could, then, help diagnose mental disorders at an early stage, when intervention is most likely to be effective and eventually help develop targeted therapy.
Why study an Indian population?
- Indian populations are genetically distinct and highly diverse.
- Findings from Western cohorts do not always translate to Indian populations.
- India offers a unique context to study gene–environment interactions.
- Studying Indian populations promotes equitable and effective precision psychiatry.
- Greater diversity strengthens global science.
About CALM-Brain : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sdmKywjQmNk