Pratiksha Trust provides funds worth Rs 450 Cr to IISc for brain research

15 February 2023 | News

To accelerate breakthrough discoveries and translational research on neurodegenerative disease

In a landmark development in philanthropic support for deep science in India, the Pratiksha Trust has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Indian Institute of Science (IISc) and the Centre for Brain Research (CBR) – an autonomous Centre of IISc located on the Institute campus in Bengaluru – to support fundamental and translational research on neurodegenerative diseases of the elderly population.

Under this MoU, the Pratiksha Trust has generously agreed to provide support to CBR in perpetuity, with an initial outlay to the tune of Rs 450.27 crore over the next 10 years, for research, innovation and translation.

Earlier in 2014, the Pratiksha Trust, established by philanthropists Kris Gopalakrishnan and Sudha Gopalakrishnan, had helped set up this unique centre in the IISc campus. The Trust has been supporting the R&D activities and has helped create world-class infrastructure in CBR since its establishment in 2014.

In addition, the Trust 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 ageing brain. 

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 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,” said Kris Gopalakrishnan. 

 

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