CHENNAI: The Sudha Gopalakrishnan Brain Centre at IIT Madras will create high-resolution 3D digital atlases of more than 100 post-mortem human brains, covering the entire human lifespan, officials said on Monday (October 12).

Prime Minister Narendra Modi dedicated the centre to the nation on October 11 and released C-STROKE, the world's first 3D atlas of a human brain affected by an ischaemic stroke.

According to a press release issued by IIT Madras, C-STROKE is part of a global effort to generate whole-brain 3D maps at cellular resolution, covering developmental stages from the foetal stage to old age and encompassing neurological disorders.

The atlas features more than 1,000 annotated sections, linking pre-mortem MRI scans at millimetre-scale resolution with histological images at micron-scale resolution. It maps markers associated with neuroinflammation, hypoxia and axonal injury.

The computational mapping was carried out using the Param Shakti supercomputer, with support from the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY), the release said.

The multidisciplinary initiative brings together more than 200 researchers and technicians, over 10 Indian medical institutions and more than 30 international collaborators.

The research has received philanthropic support from Fairfax Financial Chairman Prem Watsa and Infosys co-founder Kris Gopalakrishnan.