The Pratiksha Trust has agreed to provide support to the CBR in perpetuity, with an initial outlay of about Rs 450 crore over the next 10 years, for research, innovation and translation. The Trust will also be supporting several ambitious, high-risk-high-reward interdisciplinary extramural projects in aging brain research, IISc said in a press release.
“The human brain is one of the world’s biggest mysteries, which is yet to be fully understood. By funding this Centre, with the help of IISc, we are working towards creating and sustaining a globally recognised, state-of-the-art research and innovation hub that will be at the cutting edge of research on the human brain,” Gopalakrishnan said. “We are committed to supporting this Centre in its mission to reduce the pain, agony, and burden of an important part of our society: the elderly population. We wish the Centre all success and hope that it becomes the world’s leading centre for aging brain research by 2030.”
IISc director G Rangarajan said, “India’s elderly population is expected to grow rapidly to a staggering 32 crore by 2050, leading to a corresponding increase in the burden of dementia and other aging-related neurodegenerative diseases. CBR is uniquely positioned to take on the challenge of tackling this impending healthcare and socioeconomic crisis.”
Prof Y Narahari (Computer Science and Automation, IISc) and the current director at CBR, said, “..Their (Kris couple) generous contributions will help us pursue transformational research in mission mode, which will help reduce the burden of neurodegenerative diseases as well as improve the quality of life for the elderly.”
The substantial extension of support by the Pratiksha Trust through the current MoU will help scale up the research and innovation activities at the Centre significantly. It will help identify new early biomarkers and molecular targets for novel drugs. The funding will help initiate and investigate the efficacy of evidence-based interventions (lifestyle-based as well as therapeutic). The funding will also enable the Centre to proactively explore and achieve complete bench-to-bedside translation of the outcomes from the interdisciplinary research, the IISc said.
Earlier in 2014, the Trust had helped set up the CBR in the IISc campus. The Trust has been supporting the R&D activities and has helped create world-class infrastructure in CBR. The Trust has, in addition, entirely funded the construction of a state-of-the-art building for CBR. The current MoU is an extension of this support for securing the future of CBR and strengthening its long-term studies on the aging brain, the IISc said in a press release.