Museum of the Brain and Mind in the World: NIMHANS to increase mental health awareness

Bengaluru: The apex centre for mental health, the National Institute of Mental Health and Neurosciences (NIMHANS) Bengaluru is planning to set up a brain and mind museum called ‘Human Brain Museum’ to create awareness about mental health and neurosciences and to understand brain functioning. 

The museum would be set up in its platinum jubilee year, and a new facility would house the existing Heritage Museum and the proposed museum which the officials have termed as the 'first, largest and most innovative Museum of the Brain and Mind in the world'. 

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The museum would aggregate advances in information and communication technology, graphics and animation, incorporate virtual reality, and professional expertise in various fields of mental health and neuroscience. The visitors would be able to witness an experiential and interactive experience on the functioning of the brain and the mind, in health and disease.

Speaking to the Hindu, NIMHANS informed The Hindu, "There are plans to have a holographic zone, and an incubation centre for scientists to discuss and experiment with innovative ideas, particularly for start-ups, idea validation, mentorship and guidance, networking, funding assistance, research and marketing. We are also working on making the museum available online. Another idea being explored is of a travelling exhibition." 

Prabha S. Chandra, Dean of Behavioural Sciences at NIMHANS said, "High-end technological interfaces will represent an educative experience by itself, and will reflect the progress in technology made in recent times. The museum will help visitors understand how the brain functions in health, how motor and sensory functions are coordinated, how consciousness is maintained, how thoughts, actions and feelings are formed, and how trauma, use of substances, and lifestyle can alter functioning of the brain." 

Visitors would be able to feel the 3D objects in virtual reality space using the touch tables, transparent displays, interactive 2D touch screens, augmented reality experiences, virtual reality headsets, virtual reality caves and haptic devices available in the museum. 

The director said that the institute is looking for philanthropic and CSR support for this initiative. Anita Mahadevan, Professor and Head of Department of Neuropathology, also the coordinator of the bank and museum said, "Over 300 specimens of the human brain are on display at the museum, and an equal number are stored in the bank. One half of the brain from neurodegenerative and psychiatric disorder cases are frozen at -86 degree Celsius while the other half is formalin-fixed, which can be used for pathomorphological studies." 

Mahadevan added, "Since its inception in 1974, the bank has archived human brain, brain biopsies, serum and cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) samples from various neurological and psychiatric disorders for research. The mission is to make people N-literate (neuroscience literate). The number of brain donations are also on the rise over the years. Overall, we have collected over 50 donated brains from Bengaluru."

"Right now, the brain is a structure at the bank and museum. Its functioning is something that we cannot show on a specimen. We will use digital technology to show how the brain works, the connectivity, how nerve impulses travel. We want to expand from anatomy to try and show function," she said. 

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