November 15 - 19 saw the largest gathering of neuroscientists from around the world in San Diego, California for the annual Neuroscience meeting organized by the Society for Neuroscience (SfN). Around 20,000 researchers in various stages of their academic careers and industry professionals with an interest in neuroscience research attended the conference.
The Rohini Nilekani Centre for Brain and Mind was represented at the conference by Dr. Shriya Palchaudhuri and Prof. Biju Viswanath, who presented posters and exhibited a stall at the graduate school fair. The posters and the stall showcased the biorepository of cell lines derived from patients of severe mental illnesses (SMI), as well as the digital database CALM-Brain, that incorporates clinical and neuroimaging data from patients. These rich datasets included in the cellular and digital repositories are accessible to researchers collaborating with CBM, in order to investigate the multi-scale biological changes that occur with the progression of SMIs.
The duo also presented some specific findings from this large-scale cohort study emphasizing the need for the addition of an Indian SMI population to global efforts. The CBM booth was well-visited by neuroscientists keen on furthering the understanding of psychiatric disorders.
