Enigma World Aging Center

Pioneering neuroscientists at the National Institute of Mental Health & Neuro Sciences (NIMHANS) in Bangalore, India, have begun to develop large-scale Indian biobanks with the potential to uncover pivotal insights about global health threats, such as Alzheimer’s disease, and factors that delay its clinical progression. NIMHANS is a leading center for neuroscience in India, and has contributed actively to the ENIGMA-OCD working group.

We recently submitted a proposal called the India ENIGMA Initiative for Global Aging & Mental Health - a globally coordinated study of brain aging and Alzheimer’s disease, created in response to the NIH FOA, Global Brain and Nervous System Disorders Research Across the Lifespan to compare profiles of brain aging between cohorts in India and across the world. Our overall goal is to identify predictive markers in the blood, genome, and epigenome that influence brain aging in India, to better understand prognosis, and to support personalized risk evaluations on each continent. We plan to identify etiological pathways to resilience using the rich biobanking strategy developed by our partners at NIMHANS in India.