IIT Madras Unveils ANCHOR: The Most Detailed 3D Atlas of the Human Brainstem, ETHealthworld
Chennai: Indian Institute of Technology Madras (IIT Madras) has released the world’s most detailed 3D atlas of the human brainstem at cell resolution.
Named “ANCHOR” (Atlas of Neurochemical Characterization of the Human Brainstem with 3D Reconstruction), it was developed by the Sudha Gopalakrishnan Brain Centre (SGBC) at IIT Madras.
The atlas comprises the most comprehensive, multi-modal, 3D maps and atlases of the human brainstem to date, spanning the prenatal period through childhood and adulthood.
The model was released during the 3rd BRICS Neuroscience Symposium 2026, held from June 5 to 7 at the IIT Madras campus, and has been made publicly available to ensure that this cutting-edge research benefits researchers, doctors, and patients around the world.
SGBC also aims to build “the most comprehensive set of cell-resolution human brain maps across the lifespan and diseases.”
Prof. Ajay Kumar Sood, Principal Scientific Adviser, Government of India, said, “This is a significant accomplishment in the field of neurobiology. This is a multimodal framework integrating MRI, histology and detailed chemo-architecture. It will be the most detailed and comprehensive map of the human brainstem made available publicly in digital form. These maps will help identify specific cell populations affected in brainstem lesions, which could be critical for clinical applications.”
He added, “This is another milestone achieved by SGBC at IIT Madras after it released ‘DHARANI’ last year. An important feature of SGBC is that it has been a multi-institutional, multinational and multidisciplinary endeavour with the support of the Government, industry, and philanthropy. The Centre has become an exemplar of research and innovation through collaboration and a diversified support system for long-term sustainability.
Sood also mentioned that it is a unique example of how risk-taking by a public agency led to an advanced technology platform for conducting big science, which was then scaled by private and philanthropic support to produce world-class results in frontier areas of human brain sciences.
