National Brain Research Centre - [NBRC]

India has been a pioneer in the field of medical science and it has been successful in producing world renowned doctors and scientists who are working at various national and international hospitals and agencies and making the country proud. The National Brain Research Center has also contributed a lot towards creating fine doctors especially brain specialists.

• The first thoughts of establishing a center like this came in the year 1997 when Dr. Manju Sharma, the secretary of DBT announced its inception on the 14th of November
• On 14th June, 1999 the center got itself to be registered as an autonomous institution
• The Center was allotted 38 acres of land that was taken on lease at the Gurgaon District in Manesar which is about 40 kilometers from Delhi
• The founder as well as Chairman of the Center was Prof. P. N. Tandon whereas the founder director was Prof. Vijaylakshmi Ravindranath.
• Dr. A. P. J Abdul Kalam, the Honorable former President of India, dedicated this Center at Manesar to serve the people of this country on December 16, 2003
• The NBRC Society was formed with a vision to be an exceptional Center in Brain Research having modern facilities producing supremely talented and skilled human resource
• One vital objective of the Center is to develop into a world class center that would help in making India a leader in the field of science
• Another important aspect of this Center is to do extensive and thorough research in brain studies that would help the larger section society in understanding this complex organ of their body
• The Society has also been given the status of a Deemed to be University in 2002 u/s 3 of the UGC Act, 1956
• One unique feature of this Center is that it works in collaboration with other neuroscience centers in the country who are involved in various research projects.

The NBRC is entirely dedicated on research works in the field of neuroscience and hence offers courses based on that only. The courses offered include:

• Ph. D in Neuroscience
• Integrated Ph. D in Neuroscience
• Summer Training and Short-Term Programs

The Center is based on research only and has done many research works on different topics related to neuroscience. Some of the research done in the Center is:

• Molecular Interactions in Gliomagnesis: Hypoxic Environment and Cell Signaling, Genetics of Dyslexia
• Neuroinfection and Inflammation
• Retinal Circuitry – in health and in Disease
• Neurological Disorders Involving Protein Misfolding
• Molecular and Cellular Basis of Neuro AIDS: Human Neural Stem Cell as Models for Studying Neuro-Degeneration

The facilities are of the highest international standard provided to the scholars in the Center so that they can do their research work without any trouble. The National Facility sponsored by the Department of Biotechnology has equipments like:

• 3T Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) Scanner
• Electroencephalography (EEG)
• ERP (Evoked Response Potential Recording)

Library

The NBRC also boasts of an ultra modern library which is amongst the best in the country providing resources to the scholars which is simply unparalleled.

• It is fully equipped having state of the art facilities like CD-ROMs, online databases, e-journals and e-books and so on
• The library is automated open access library which has the benefit to be accessed all through the year
• The library also houses many printed other materials such as audio-video cassettes, project reports, books and journals etc.

IT infrastructure and services include

• LAN network throughout the campus having 10 gbps fiber optic backbone
• The whole campus is connected with Wi-Fi
• The network in the Center is also connected with National Knowledge Network
• The whole IT set up in the NBRC is maintained and managed by the DIC which also looks after the general requirements of the researchers in the campus
• Video conferencing facility is also made available to the scholars to help them carry put research by collaborating with other researchers and teachers.

Other facilities are

• Hostel facilities for married students and staff
• Laboratories that are 15 in number
• Digital Library
• National Microarray facility
• Sports facilities that include gymnasium, football ground, basketball and volleyball courts etc
• DNA Sequencing facility and so on.

Research :

Research is carried out at NBRC in many fields like neuroscience from Cellular and Molecular Neuroscience, Developmental Neuroscience, Systems and Cognitive Neuroscience to Computational Neuroscience and Brain Imaging. DNA Microarray, DNA Sequencing, Whole-cell Intracellular and Extracellular Physiological Recording, Magnetic Resonance Imaging facilities aew available at the center. NBRC ranks first in India in number of publications in Basic Neuroscience during  2006-10.

Training :

Besides research, the center provides a national level nucleus in diverse fields of neurosciences for comprehensive training and teaching. The center offers post-graduate degree courses in neuroscience. Currently, it offers an Integrated PhD (MSc + PhD) / PhD program in neuroscience. These programs aim to develop a solid foundation in the basic areas of neuroscience in an inter-disciplinary manner and to expose the students to the latest research techniques in different areas.

Collaborations :

NBRC has collaborations with international centers like RIKEN Brain Science Institute, Japan, National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH), USA, Pavlov Institute, Russia, University Utrecht, The Netherlands, Institute National de la Santé et de la Recherche Médicale (INSERM), and France. In the year 2006, Montreal Neurological Institute of McGill University (MNI), Canada and NBRC were declared sister institutes.

Scholarships : The students at the NBRC are given Rs. 5000 and Rs. 3000 for securing 1^st and 2^nd position respectively in their integrated Ph.D. and Ph.D. courses.