The Pratiksha Trust, a charitable organization, founded by Dr. Kris Gopalakrishnan (Chairman, Axilor Ventures and Co-Founder, Infosys) and Mrs. Sudha Gopalakrishnan, has embarked on an exemplary initiative to fully fund EMSTAR (Extra-Mural Support for Transformational Aging Brain Research).

The EMSTAR program will support cutting-edge research aimed at advancing the understanding of normal and pathological aging of the brain on the themes outlined below. The Centre for Brain Research (CBR) will play a facilitatory role to coordinate this program with the expert help of external committees of distinguished researchers.

Focus Areas

• To be eligible to compete for funding, the proposal must fall under one or more of the following areas of research:
• Understanding dementia from molecular, cellular, and systems standpoints
• Longitudinal cohort studies in rural and urban India to study the aging brain
• Artificial intelligence, machine learning, and data science approaches to decipher normal and pathological aging of the brain
• The role of hitherto less explored systems and approaches, such as the gut microbiome, in neurodegeneration, with a focus on dementia
• Immunity-nervous system crosstalk in the context of neurodegeneration, particularly dementia.

Each grant must have a Principal Investigator (PI) and at least one Co-Investigator (Co‑I). The PI

• must hold a PhD/MD/MBBS-MS/MPH/equivalent degree
• must have demonstrated experience in leading a research group
• must have a salaried academic or research position (or the guarantee of a salaried position) at an eligible host institution in India for the entire duration of the grant.

The Co‑I may be based in India or abroad. There are no age, gender, or nationality-based restrictions.

Essentials on the preliminary application:- 

• Abstract (~1000 words) of a research proposal that seeks to answer (an) original research question(s) in any of the focus areas above
• An eligible PI based at a not-for-profit institution in India and at least one eligible Co‑I.

Preliminary applications in the prescribed format must be emailed to emstar.​cbr@​iisc.​ac.​in by 11:59 PM IST on 21 November 2022. Hard copies are not required.

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