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DBT-NBRC developes SWADESH project

  • Posted By
    10Pointer
  • Categories
    Polity & Governance
  • Published
    1st Dec, 2021

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.

About DBT

  • The Department of Biotechnology (DBT) functions under the Ministry of Science and Technology.
  • It promotes and improves biotechnology development in India through its development and implementation in agriculture, healthcare, animal sciences, the environment and industry.

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