2018-2019 As Against the Requirement of AS-15 Issued by ICAI
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National Brain Research Centre Annual Report 2018-19 Mandate & Objectives .............................................................................7 From the Director’s Desk ........................................................................9 Scientific Reports ..................................................................................15 Dr. Anindya Ghosh Roy ........................................................................................................................17 Prof. Anirban Basu................................................................................................................................22 Dr. Arpan Banerjee ...............................................................................................................................27 Dr. Dipanjan Roy ..................................................................................................................................32 Prof. Ellora Sen ....................................................................................................................................42 Prof. Nandini C. Singh ..........................................................................................................................44 Prof. Neeraj Jain ...................................................................................................................................47 Prof. Pankaj Seth..................................................................................................................................52 Prof. Pravat Kumar Mandal ..................................................................................................................56 Prof. Ranjit Kumar Giri..........................................................................................................................63 Prof. Shiv K Sharma .............................................................................................................................68 Prof. Soumya Iyengar ...........................................................................................................................70 contents Dr. Sourav Banerjee .............................................................................................................................73 Dr. Yogita K. Adlakha (DST Inspire Faculty) .........................................................................................77 Major Research Programs ....................................................................81 Dementia Project ............................................................................................................83 Flagship Project ..............................................................................................................85 Centre of Excellence (CoE) for Epilepsy Research ........................................................87 Publications, Patents & Presentations ................................................89 Publications .................................................................................................................... 91 Patents ........................................................................................................................... 91 Presentations.................................................................................................................. 94 4 NBRC Annual Report 2018-19 Externally Funded Research Projects .................................................99 Distinctions, Honours and Awards ...................................................105 Academic Programmes.......................................................................109 NBRC Facilities ....................................................................................113 Distributed Information Centre (DIC) .............................................................................115 Animals Facility..............................................................................................................117 Library............................................................................................................................119 DBT’s Electronic Library Consortium (DeLCON) .........................................................120 National Neuroimaging Facility .....................................................................................124 Translational & Clinical Neuroscience Unit ...................................................................127 Lectures, Meetings & Workshops ......................................................129 General & Academic Administration .................................................137 contents Institutional Governance Structure & People at NBRC ...................141 Annual Financial Statements .............................................................155 NBRC Annual Report 2018-19 5 6 NBRC Annual Report 2018-19 Mandate & Objectives MANDATE • Pursue basic research to understand brain function in health and disease. • Generate trained human resources with the capability to carry out inter-disciplinary research in neuroscience. • Promote neuroscience in India through networking among institutions across the country OBJECTIVES • To undertake, aid, promote, guide and coordinate research of high caliber in basic and clinical neuroscience related to diseases and disorders of the nervous system. • To develop NBRC as the national apex centre for neuroscience research and promote neuroscience research at different centres in the country and to provide consulting services to other institutions, agencies and industries. • To promote, encourage and augment effective linkages, alliances and affiliations between the Centre and National and International Scientific and Research Institutions, bodies, agencies/laboratories and other organizations working in the field of brain and neurosciences research. • To establish one or more satellite centers to serve different regions of the country for efficient achievement of the objectives of the Center. • To collect, assimilate, publish and disseminate data and information on relevant aspects of neuroscience to the scientific community. • To establish, operate and maintain state-of-the-art facilities as well as databases for carrying research and development activities and make such facilities and databases available to scientists and researchers from all over the country and abroad. • To provide for instructions and training in such other branches of learning as the Centre may deem fit. • To provide facilities for the advancement of research and development to facilitate learning and dissemination of knowledge. • To undertake extramural studies, extension programmes and field outreach activities to contribute to the development of society. • To promote, develop, collaborate or otherwise assist in providing services of research, training, consulting or guidance related to neurosciences activities comprising biological, psychological, sociological and clinical aspects; and • To do all such other acts and things as may be necessary or desirable to further the objectives of the Centre. NBRC Annual Report 2018-19 7 8 NBRC Annual Report 2018-19 From the Director’s Desk Prof. Neeraj Jain ational Brain Research Center (NBRC) is a premier Institute dedicated to conducting advanced research in Neuroscience, and excel in providing education and training. The mandate of NBRC Nis to understand brain function in health and disease. NBRC, as a Deemed to be University, also runs M.Sc. and Ph.D. programs besides other post-graduate and post-doctoral programs to generate trained human resources with the knowledge and skills required to conduct interdisciplinary research in neurosciences. The broader vision is to discover underlying causes, and develop diagnostic markers and cures for various diseases affecting the brain through innovative approaches in basic and translational research. With immense pleasure, I present this annual report for the year 2018-19, which clearly showcases the commitment of our scientists towards achieving the objectives of NBRC. In order to better reflect the strength of NBRC in multiple subdisciplines of Neuroscience, we now organize NBRC into five divisions – Cellular and Molecular, Systems, Cognitive, Computational, and Translation Research. Using multidisciplinary approaches and various model systems, and supported by intra-institutional and inter-institutional collaborations, NBRC has made significant strides as evidenced by publications, awards and honors. Some of the major achievements during the year are highlighted below. Encephalitis, caused by Japanese Encephalitis Virus (JEV), and other viruses remains a major public health challenge. The research program developed by Dr Anirban Basu has successfully combined basic and translational research. Their relentless efforts to find a means to tackle this disease has led to identification and classification of hubs in miRNA target gene networks in human neural stem/progenitor cells (NSPCs) following JEV infection. His group has also utilized computational biology approach to analyse networks generated from protein interaction modules and hub proteins, which might be the key host factors for viral infection in NSPCs. On the translational front, his group in association with sister NCR cluster institutes RCB and THSTI has demonstrated that the platelet factor 4 (PF4) promotes rapid replication and propagation of Dengue Virus (DV) and JEV. These findings suggest that the PF4-CXCR3-IFN axis is a potential target for developing