Neuroscience Research Symposium – 2025

November 10 & 11, 2025 at NCBS

Neuroscience Research Symposium

This is an annual international meeting where academics, clinicians and industry professionals discuss and deliberate on the latest advances and scientific discoveries in human neuroscience research with a potential to transform the diagnosis and management of severe mental illnesses.

The Neuroscience Research Symposium is organised by the Centre for Brain and Mind (CBM) at the National Centre for Biological Sciences (NCBS) in collaboration with the National Institute of Mental Health and Neuro Sciences (NIMHANS).

The second edition is scheduled for November 10 & 11, 2025 at NCBS.

This symposium is a part of Manotsava, the national mental health festival – an initiative of the Rohini Nilekani Philanthropies in partnership with NCBS and NIMHANS.

The inaugural symposium was held on October 25, 2024, at NCBS.

Organisers

Raghu Padinjat, NCBS & YC Janardhan Reddy, NIMHANS

Manotsava

Manotsava is a Mental Health Festival that brings together the public, healthcare professionals, researchers, artists and community advocates on one platform to explore the many facets of mental health.

Manotsava was launched in October 2024.

NRS – 2024

Manotsava 2024: Neuroscience Research Symposium

As part of Manotsava 2024, a Neuroscience Research Symposium was organized by the National Centre for Biological Sciences, National Centre for Biological Sciences and Rohini Nilekani Philanthropies on 25th October 2024 at the NCBS campus in Bangalore. The overall goal of the symposium was to showcase the work being performed at the Centre for Brain and Mind. A secondary goal was to build collaborative bridges between CBM and other groups working in complimentary areas of research into brain disorders. The symposium included several scientific presentations from investigators showcasing the work being performed at CBM alongside presentations from national and international experts working in similar areas of neuroscience research. Speakers included scientists from the United States, United Kingdom and the Netherlands. The full program of research talks at this meeting is included below.

NRS – 2024 Schedule

Time (IST)	Time (CEST)	Speaker	Topic
10:00 to 10:15	07:00 to 07:15	Kris Gopalakrishnan, Pratiksha Trust	Opening remarks
SESSION 1: Chairperson – Mathew Varghese
10:15 to 10:45	07:15 to 07:45	Pratima Murthy, NIMHANS	The burden of mental health in India
10:45 to 11:15	07:45 to 08:15	Vivek Benegal, NIMHANS	Neurodevelopmental origins of mental illness
Tea
Session 2: Chairperson – Sanjeev Jain
11:30 to 12:00	08:00 to 08:30	Kenneth Kendler, Virginia Commonwealth University, USA	Genetics of severe mental illness
12:00 to 12:15	08:30 to 08:45	Biju Vishwanath, NIMHANS	Genetics of severe mental illnesses, an overview of Indian Studies
12:15 to 12:30	08:45 to 09:00	Suhas Ganesh, NIMHANS	Genetics of severe mental illnesses - rare variant studies from India
12:30 to 13:00	09:00 to 09:30	K. Thangaraj, CCMB	Dual genetic origin of mental illness: excellent opportunity to explore GenomeIndia data!
Lunch
Session 3: Chairperson – YC Janardhan Reddy
14:00 to 14:30	10:30 to 11:00	Odile van den Heuvel, Amsterdam University Medical Centre, Netherlands	From an Obsessive Compulsive Disorder model to personalized rTMS targeting.
14:30 to 15:00	11:00 to 11:30	John P John, NIMHANS	Endophenotype analysis of severe mental illness - the ADBS study
15:00 to 15:15	11:30 to 11:45	Srinivas Balachander, NIMHANS	Imaging endophenotypes in obsessive compulsive disorder
15:15 to 15:30	11:45 to 12:00	Bharath Holla, NIMHANS	Normative models to personalized psychiatry
Tea
Session 4: Chairperson – Raghu Padinjat
16:00 to 16:30	12:30 to 13:00	David Cousins, Newcastle University, UK	Personalized medicine – Li neuroimaging in Bipolar Affective Disorder
16:30 to 17:00	13:00 to 13:30	Raghu Padinjat, NCBS	Personalized medicine – Cellular mechanisms in Li responsiveness
17:00 to 17:30	13:30 to 14:00	Upi Bhalla, NCBS	CALM-BRAIN: an electronic research database for multimodal analysis of severe mental illness
17:30 to 17:45	14:00 to 14:15	K. VijayRaghavan, NCBS	Closing remarks
High Tea

About CBM

Rohini Nilekani Centre for Brain and Mind (CBM)

Useful Links

Simons Center for the Social Brain

Welcome Trust, UK

B rain Initiative, NIH

UK Biobank
Psychiatric Genomics Consortium

Contact Us

National Centre for Biological Sciences,
Tata Institute of Fundamental Research
Bellary Road, Bangalore 560065,
Karnataka, India
Phone: 91 80 23666001 / 02 / 18 / 19
91 80 23666759
Email: cbm at ncbs dot res dot in