DBT-NBRC developes SWADESH project

Recently, the Department of Biotechnology (DBT)-National Brain Research Centre (DBT-NBRC) has recently developed project SWADESH, a unique brain initiative focusing on certified neuroimaging, neurochemical, neuropsychological data and analytics that are made accessible to researchers for managing brain disorders.

Context

Recently, the Department of Biotechnology (DBT)-National Brain Research Centre (DBT-NBRC) has recently developed project SWADESH, a unique brain initiative focusing on certified neuroimaging, neurochemical, neuropsychological data and analytics that are made accessible to researchers for managing brain disorders.

What is the SWADESH Project?

• SWADESH is the first large-scale multimodal neuroimaging database.
• It is designed specifically for the Indian population with big-data architecture and analytics for various disease categories under one platform.
• Objectives: 
  • To strengthen Alzheimer’s disease (AD) research 
  • To help the scientific community come up with promising treatments
• Technical support: It is supported by JAVA-based workflow environments and Python. Backed by a dedicated storage system, it provides quality control, data analysis reports, and data backups. 
  • Python and Java are both computer programming languages.

Proposed Health subjects

• SWADESH proposes a big-data architecture that manages and analyzes six modules, namely neurodegenerative [AD, mild cognitive impairment (MCI), and Parkinson’s disease (PD)], neuropsychiatric (schizophrenia and bipolar disorder), neurodevelopmental (autism and epilepsy), COVID-19-related disorders, other disorders, and health subjects.

Significance

• It will be useful in conducting multimodal brain studies to understand Alzheimer’s disease and several neurological disorders.
• Its development will facilitate the integration of multi-site data and collaborative research worldwide.