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Filter by type of resource Rome Berlin Paris People of CBM NIMHANS Team NCBS Investigators NCBS Staff Our diverse team comprises passionate individuals from various academic backgrounds, united in our pursuit of cutting-edge research. From seasoned clinicians to budding researchers, we foster innovation and are committed to accelerating our understanding of the brain and mind. How We Work Together Filter by team Admin Team Clinical Team Co-Investigator Team Communication Team Data Centre Team Doctoral Candidate Investigator Team Lab Team MRI/EEG Team Support Team Filter by project A-BIG-NET CBM DBT/IA Lithium GENMETSZ GenECT MGL MQ Abirami Baskaran Laboratory Manager Aina Kurian Psychiatric Social Worker (Research), Doctoral Student Aishwarya Raj Post Doctoral Fellow Akash D K Research Nurse/Technical Research Assistant Akshaya Ganesh Junior Research Fellow Alagarsami A R Psychiatric Social Worker Almas M Project Associate Amirtha Varshini Project Associate Amrutha Gunda Clinical Project Associate Anukrishnan G D Technician (EEG, Psychophysics) Anushka Banerjee Scientific Development & Communication Officer Arulmozhi Balakrishnan Research Technician Ashim Paul Deb Project Scientist B (Non- Medical) Bhargavi MH Technician (EEG, Psychophysics) Bhramaramba Data Entry Operator Bindu T R Research Technician Blossom Fernandes Junior Research Fellow (Neuroimaging for ANC) Chandrakanta S Hiremath Clinical Psychologist (Research) Charishma S Technician (EEG/Psychophysics) Chhavi Thakur Clinical Project Associate Chitra Kadu Human Resource Manager Deepankan Chakarborty Junior Research Fellow (Neuroimaging - ADBS Data Centre) Deepthi R Laboratory Technician Devika P P Research Technician Dhanush C Project Office Assistant Load More

Project Associate varshalathav3@gmail.com Back Back to People Page Back Lab Team, Doctoral Candidate Varsha Vishnu Project Associate CBM, A-BIG-NET

The Centre for Brain and Mind (CBM-NIMHANS) focuses on supporting research on five mental disorders — schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, addiction, obsessive-compulsive disorder & dementia. The centre employs several tools & techniques to understand the complexities of brain & mind conditions. This is a collaborative effort of the National Institute for Mental Health and Neurosciences (NIMHANS) & the National Centre for Biological Sciences (NCBS), supported by Rohini Nilekani Philanthropies. Welcome Updates Research Events Jobs Rohini Nilekani Centre for Brain and Mind About Us The Centre for Brain and Mind is a collaborative, premier research centre focused on supporting research on five mental disorders — schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, addiction, obsessive-compulsive disorder and dementia. With a partnership between the National Institute of Mental Health and Neurosciences (NIMHANS) and the National Centre for Biological Sciences (NCBS), the centre employs several tools & techniques to understand the complexities of brain and mind conditions. Learn More Introduction New at CBM-NIMHANS New publication! Genetics and epigenetics in tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-α) and transmembrane 6 superfamily member 2 (TM6SF2) in alcohol induced liver cirrhosis New publication! Including lived experience voices in science communication to combat mental illness stigma: insights from India The Brain and Mind Dispatch - Issue 1 out now! New publication! Expression patterns of risk genes associated with three evolutionarily relevant syndromes in rhesus macaque and human brains CALM-Brain was launched on March 25th 2026 To learn more about the launch, visit our News section. Check out the database here: http://calm-brain.ncbs.res.in/ How I Got Here | The Dichotomy of Science: “Mind the Gap” Science is often described as flowing from discovery to clinic. Biju Viswanath’s current ran the other way. Dr Reeteka Sud awarded the PGRN–Myriad Research Grant 2025! Clozapine is a therapeutically superior antipsychotic for treatment-resistant schizophrenia (TRS). This project is designed to investigate the utility of patients’ genomic variants, in combination with their clinical and cellular data, to identify the basis of clozapine response in TRS. Career Development Fellowship Awardee - Dr Kalyani B Karunakaran Congratulations to Dr Kalyani B Karunakaran for being awarded the Career Development Fellowship at CBM-NIMHANS! Dr Karunakaran's work focuses on the molecular mechanisms underlying cross-disorder relationships & psychiatric drugs with cross-disorder effects. Join us at Manotsava 2025! Manotsava, India's largest mental health festival, returns to Bengaluru on November 8-9, 2025 at the Lalit Ashok! Get involved in research! We're bringing together scientists, clinicians, members of the public, individuals with lived experiences and their caregivers to talk about our research in psychiatric and neurological illnesses. A Cerebellar Paradox Offers Clues in SCA12 Research Our new paper unveils a fascinating paradox: the brain region most vulnerable in SCA12 appears surprisingly resilient. New publication! CAG Repeat Instability and Region-Specific Gene Expression Changes in the SCA12 Brain Welcome to our incoming batch of Ph.D. students! (L-R) Manasadeepika, Shama, Chandrakanta, Blossom, Joyce, Lakshmi, Shweta Our e-book is out now! "MIND: The Gap" blends research, personal stories, and insights from our events to explore mental health holistically. Through the Looking Glass Art Exhibition Visit our art exhibition, running at the NIMHANS Heritage Museum from Oct-Nov 2024 in celebration of World Mental Health Day! Welcome to our incoming batch of Ph.D. students! (L-R) Deepankan, Shrinkhala, Pannaga (Not pictured) Rashmi, Blossom Coffee, Cinema and Community: Mental Health Redefined | July 15 - 21, 2024 From book talks to film discussions, and art exhibitions to storytelling workshops - let's talk about mental health, Bengaluru! New publication alert! Exploring the genetics of lithium response in bipolar disorders Dr Suhas G awarded 2024 Society of Biological Psychiatry Travel Fellowship Award Dr Bhagyalakshmi S awarded the 2024 WFSBP Young Investigator Award New publication alert! Altered neuroepithelial morphogenesis and migration defects in iPSC-derived cerebral organoids and 2D neural stem cells in familial bipolar disorder Excited volunteers trying out the EEG caps at National Science Day celebrations Welcome to our incoming batch of Ph.D. students! (L-R) Akshayaa, Mythri, Lakshana, Shreevidya We were at the India Science Festival 2024 at IISER Pune! Srividya and Romita's farewell lunch - good luck & we'll miss you! Our Research Groups Clinical Group Endophenotype Group Genetics & Stem Cell Group Patients undergo extensive clinical investigations, including neuroimaging and neuropsychological assessments at regular intervals as part of a longitudinal study Learn More Advances in stem cell technology allow us to investigate specific molecular mechanisms underlying neuropsychiatric disorders and offer insights into genetic variations and their effects on neuronal functioning in neural cell models. Learn More Endophenotypic clues derived from various assessments enhance the reliability of research on brain function by offering insights into genetic factors of a psychiatric disorder Learn More Do you want to participate in our research studies? Click here to learn more Get involved in research! We're bringing together scientists, clinicians, members of the public, individuals with lived experiences and their caregivers to talk about our research in psychiatric and neurological illnesses. Sign up if you're interested in participating. Learn more about what PPIE is here Read more Upcoming Events Last date to submit entries is August 20! Colours of Resilience: Art for Suicide Prevention / Learn more Last date to submit entries is August 20! NIMHANS Heritage Museum, WHQW+W2F, Hosur Rd, inside NIMHANS Bengaluru, Hombegowda Nagar, Bengaluru, Karnataka 560029, India Submit your artwork for the new exhibition! Opportunities There are no open positions at this time. Contact

Director & Senior Professor, Department of Psychiatry ResearchGate Back Back to People Page Back Co-Investigator Team Dr Pratima Murthy Director & Senior Professor, Department of Psychiatry Dr. Pratima brings about 30 years of extensive experience and exceptional accomplishments in the field of mental health. A well-recognized leader in addiction psychiatry, she has been instrumental in the successful development of state-of-the-art Centre for Addiction Medicine at NIMHANS. She has served as a consultant to prominent international agencies such as the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), the International Labour Organisation (ILO) and the World Health Organisation (WHO). She has also served as a resource person for various flagship training programmes in substance abuse prevention and tobacco cessation in the country, and across the globe. Dr Pratima is also recognised for her contribution in improving care for persons with mental illness through her work with the National Human Rights Commission on quality assurance in mental health care both in institutions and in the community. In recognition of her research and academic excellence, Dr. Pratima has received numerous awards and honours including the prestigious Dr. Raja Ramanna State Award by the Government of Karnataka and Lifetime Achievement Award from Rotary. Recently, she was honoured with the WHO Regional Director’s Special Recognition Award on ‘World No Tobacco Day 2021’ for her remarkable service in tobacco control. A prolific author, she has more than 300 research publications in various international indexed journals and scientific books to her credit. Dr. Pratima received her MBBS degree from Bangalore Medical College in 1985. She obtained DPM and MD (Psychological Medicine) from NIMHANS in 1987 and 1989 respectively. She joined as a faculty at her alma mater in 1993, and has worked in various academic capacities since then. She is a Fellow of the Royal College of Physicians (FRCP), Glasgow.

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Associate Professor of Psychiatry, Centre for Integrative Medicine and Research hollabharath@gmail.com LinkedIn ORCID ID: 0000-0003-0999-1237 Back Back to People Page Back Co-Investigator Team Addiction Dr Bharath Holla Associate Professor of Psychiatry, Centre for Integrative Medicine and Research Dr. Holla is a physician-scientist (MD, PhD) involved in patient care, research and post-graduate training in psychiatry. He has a deep interest in designing novel treatment approaches for psychiatric disorders, as well as using traditional approaches (like yoga) for health and well-being After completing postgraduate residency in psychiatry, he specialised in the field of addiction psychiatry with a post-doctoral clinical fellowship at NIMHANS. His PhD work involved imaging-genomics of addiction vulnerability in adolescents. He strongly believes that future progress in neuroscience and psychiatry will stem from open-science and multi-disciplinary collaborations. Therefore, he has been actively involved in several multi-institute and multi-country population neuroscience work that have resulted in high-impact research publications and larger impacts on the community. Benegal, V., Chakrabarti, A., Holla, B. , Basu, D., Sharma, E., Purushottam, M., Mahadevan, J., Goyal, N., Nebhinani, N., Basu, A., Singh, R. L., Khanra, S., & Viswanath, B. (2024). W57. PATHWAYS TO RESILIENCE AND MENTAL-HEALTH [PARAM]: A NEURODEVELOPMENTAL COHORT FROM INDIA. European Neuropsychopharmacology , 87 , 132. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.euroneuro.2024.08.266 Bhargav, H., Raghavan, V., Rao, N. P., Gulati, K., Binumon, K. V., Anu, K. N., Ravi, S., Jasti, N., Holla, B., Varambally, S., & Ramachandran, P. (2024). Validation and efficacy of a tele-yoga intervention for improving psychological stress, mental health and sleep difficulties of stressed adults diagnosed with long COVID: A prospective, multi-center, open-label single-arm study. Frontiers in Psychology , 15 , 1436691. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2024.1436691 Jeevan, Y., Mahadevan, J., Viswanath, B., Jain, S., Ganesh, S., Holla, B., Purushottam, M., & Shankarappa, B. (2024). F35. INVESTIGATING GENETIC RISK FOR PSYCHOSIS IN BIPOLAR DISORDER IN INDIA USING POLYGENIC SCORES. European Neuropsychopharmacology , 87 , 224. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.euroneuro.2024.08.446 Mahadevan, J., Holla, B. , Ganesh, S., Shankarappa, B., Paul, P., Sud, R., Jain, S., Purushottam, M., & Viswanath, B. (2024). W32. A GENOME-WIDE ASSOCIATION STUDY OF BIPOLAR DISORDER FROM INDIA. European Neuropsychopharmacology , 87 , 118. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.euroneuro.2024.08.241 Shekar Mv, C., Bhargav, H., Holla, B., Mahadevan, J., Singh, A., Narasimha, V. L., Katla, N., Snigdha, A., S, K., & Maheswari, E. (2024). Efficacy of yoga-breath linked intervention to stop smoking (Y-BLISS) in reducing the number of cigarettes smoked per day among smokers attempting to reduce or quit: Study protocol for a randomized controlled trial. Wellcome Open Research , 9 , 693. https://doi.org/10.12688/wellcomeopenres.22839.1

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Senior Professor Dpt. Of Psychiatry Google Scholar Back Back to People Page Back Co-Investigator Team Molecular Genetics Dr Sanjeev Jain Senior Professor Dpt. Of Psychiatry Sanjeev Jain is a clinician and a teacher, and researches the genetic correlates of psychiatric and neurological disease. He studied medicine at the Delhi University (Maulana Azad Medical College); and did his post-graduate studies at the NIMHANS. He has been a Commonwealth Fellow at Cambridge (UK), and the co-Director of a NIH-Fogarty training and mentorship program. He has provided the lead for, and participated in, several population and cohort studies, and also provides genetic testing for several neuro-degenerative disorders, as well as counseling services for these families. This work includes the genetics of schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, Alzheimer’s disease and Huntington’s disease, as well as addiction and OCD. Over the past few years, discussions and collaboration with other colleagues at NIMHANS, the NCBS and inSTEM, have extended the research from the clinic, to the bench, using both clinical assessments (including MRI, EEG etc.) as well as tools of cellular and molecular biology, including WES, iPSC and neuronal cell lines from individuals diagnosed to have psychiatric illnesses, and their affected and unaffected relatives. He has been a member of the committee for drafting the Mental Health Policy document for India; and is also an Adjunct Faculty at the National Centre for Biological Sciences (TIFR), Bangalore. His other interests include the history of mental health services in India, from the colonial to the contemporary period. This work has helped understand the interface between science and medicine, and social responses to mental illness in India. The work has been supported by various funding agencies in India (DBT, ICMR, DST and the CSIR), as also the Wellcome Trust, NIH (Fogarty) and the MRC-ICMR. Gopikumar, V., Narasimhan, L., Easwaran, D., Srinivas, A., R, K., Moideen, P., Sivayokan, S., Rohatgi, P., Padmakar, A., Rajesh, V., Ravi, M., Krishnadas, P., Margaret, A., Hamlai, M., Sharma, C., Joseph, S., Venkateswaran, C., Ck, K., Sn, S., … Ravikanth, L. (2025). From institutions to homes: Evaluation of a housing with supportive services intervention for people with psychosocial disabilities with histories of homelessness. SSM - Mental Health , 7 , 100424. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ssmmh.2025.100424 Parthaje, S., Janardhanan, M., Paul, P., Karunakaran, K. B., Deb, A. P., Shankarappa, B., Pal, P. K., Mahadevan, A., Jain, S ., Viswanath, B., & Purushottam, M. (2025). CAG Repeat Instability and Region-Specific Gene Expression Changes in the SCA12 Brain. The Cerebellum , 24 (3), 60. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12311-025-01808-z Ratna, N., Venkatesh, S. D., Pasupulati, S., Murari, G., Kamble, N., Viswanath, B., Yadav, R., Varghese, M., Pal, P. K., Jain, S. , & Purushottam, M. (2025). Allelic Diversity, de novo CAG Expansions, and Intergenerational Instability at the HTT Locus in a clinical sample of Huntington’s Disease from India . https://doi.org/10.1101/2025.03.03.21260193 Shankarappa, B., Prasad, V. P., Kumar, S., Rao, R. S., Royal, A. B., Swamy, M., Prasad, P., Niranjana Murthy, A. S., Ganesh, S., Viswanath, B., Jain, S. , Purushottam, M., & Thyloth, M. (2024). A Novel Homozygous Variant in CPLANE1 Gene in a Patient with Developmental Deficits. Molecular Syndromology , 1–6. https://doi.org/10.1159/000541167 Vinod, P., Sen, S., Jayasankar, P., Janardhanan, M., Paul, P., Viswanath, B., Jain, S ., Harbishettar, V., Sivakumar, P. T., & Purushottam, M. (2024). Does Apolipoprotein E polymorphism play a role in familial Alzheimer’s Dementia. Alzheimer’s & Dementia , 20 (S1), e087257. https://doi.org/10.1002/alz.087257

Professor, Department of Psychiatry Google Scholar Back Back to People Page Back Co-Investigator Team Dr Muralidharan Kesavan Professor, Department of Psychiatry

Project Scientist B (Non- Medical) Back Back to People Page Back Lab Team Ashim Paul Deb Project Scientist B (Non- Medical) CBM

Senior Professor & Department of Psychiatry Google Scholar Back Back to People Page Back Co-Investigator Team Dr Prabha S Chandra Senior Professor & Department of Psychiatry Dr. Prabha S. Chandra, is a Professor and Head of Psychiatry at NIMHANS, Bangalore, India. She studied at the Lady Hardinge Medical College, New Delhi and NIMHANS. She has served as a Temporary Advisor to the WHO and UNAIDS and is the Secretary of the International Association of Women’s Mental Health, a nominated member of the World Psychiatric Association and an executive member of the Marce International society. She has been an NHS International Fellow and Consultant in Manchester, UK and a visiting professor at the University of Liverpool. Her main areas of interest are Women's Mental Health, Perinatal Psychiatry, teaching methods, ethics and palliative care. She has nearly 180 publications and has edited several books. She has three active research grants and has won several recognitions and awards. She has started the first dedicated psychiatry service including a Mother Baby unit in South Asia for mothers with severe mental illness.

Technician (EEG/Psychophysics) mohdmashook916@gmail.com Back Back to People Page Back MRI/EEG Team Mohamed Mashook Technician (EEG/Psychophysics) CBM