CHENNAI: Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s October 11 visit to Chennai will put the spotlight on IIT Madras’s blend of culture, technology and cutting-edge neuroscience, with the inauguration of the IITM–Maestro Ilaiyaraaja Centre for Music Learning and Research and a presentation of the institute’s pioneering human brain-mapping work forming key highlights of his itinerary.

Modi will arrive from New Delhi at 10.55 am and proceed to Poonamallee, where he will launch the 14.64-km Poonamallee–Vadapalani stretch of Chennai Metro’s Phase II. He is expected to take a Metro ride to Porur before proceeding by road to IIT-M.

At IIT-M, Modi will interact with founders of start-ups and visit the Sudha Gopalakrishnan Brain Centre, which has established a major national research effort in high-resolution human brain mapping. The Centre released ANCHOR, a 3-D atlas of the human brainstem at cellular resolution, which IIT Madras described as the world’s most detailed such atlas. The work maps brain structures across developmental stages and is intended to advance research into the human brain and neurological disorders.

The cultural highlight of the visit will be the inauguration of the Ilaiyaraaja Centre, conceived to bring music learning and research together with technology. The foundation stone for the centre was laid in 2024 in association with composer Ilaiyaraaja. It is envisaged to offer skill-development and certification programmes besides research involving musical instruments and related technologies.

Ilaiyaraaja had earlier expressed hope that the centre would produce 200 new Ilaiyaraajas, while IIT-M Director V Kamakoti said it would bring music and technology together.