NIMHANS launches CALM-Brain, India's first psychiatric disorder data repository

Key facts

• The National Institute of Mental Health and Neuro Sciences (NIMHANS) launched CALM-Brain, India's first digital repository of data on brain structure and function for major psychiatric disorders.
• The initiative is a collaborative effort of the Rohini Nilekani Centre for Brain and Mind (CBM), which is a partnership between NIMHANS and the National Centre for Biological Sciences (NCBS) - TIFR.
• CALM-Brain serves as a repository for clinical, neuro-imaging, behavioural, and genetic datasets focusing on five disorders: addiction, bipolar disorder, dementia, obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD), and schizophrenia.
• The repository is linked to a biorepository of stem cells to facilitate biological research into the origins of severe mental illnesses.
• The project currently contains data from over 2,000 participants across 900 families, with phase-wise data gathering having started in 2016.
• The initiative was funded through the Accelerator programme for discovery in brain disorders using stem cells, jointly supported by the Department of Biotechnology (DBT) and the Pratiksha Trust.
• According to World Health Organization (WHO) estimates, India faces an economic loss of USD 1.03 trillion due to mental health conditions.
• The NIMHANS-led National Mental Health survey of 2015-2016 reported that 10.6 per cent of Indian adults suffered from mental illness.