Innovative Partnership with Gates Ventures
Centre for Brain Research and Gates Ventures Collaborate to Advance Research on Brain Aging and Dementia
09 April 2025: The Centre for Brain Research (CBR) at the Indian Institute of Science (IISc) and Gates Ventures have entered into a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to mark the beginning of a long-term association centered on scientific research and capacity-building in the realm of healthy and pathological brain aging.
This alliance combines CBR’s clinical and scientific expertise with Gates Ventures’ longstanding commitment to overcoming R&D challenges in Alzheimer’s and related dementias. It aims to leverage recent advances in the use of fluid biomarkers to predict the onset and monitor the progression of dementia and other neurodegenerative conditions. It will reinforce efforts to develop scalable, inexpensive, and minimally invasive approaches which, together with sophisticated digital tools, are likely to positively impact the field of aging brain research. This innovative collaboration will be further fortified by the active involvement of the UK Dementia Research Institute (UK DRI), which brings rich expertise in aging brain research and will play a vital role in facilitating knowledge exchange.
A key initiative under this multi-institutional endeavour will be the establishment of a Biomarker Centre of Excellence at CBR to systematically evaluate existing blood biomarkers and potentially discover new ones relevant to the Indian population. Efforts will also focus on developing scalable tests that move from conventional venous blood draws to simpler, at-home ‘finger-prick’ methods.
The partnership will strive to create a forward-looking ecosystem in India that consolidates multidisciplinary expertise, state-of-the-art computational infrastructure, robust data science methodologies, and access to large, diverse, and longitudinal health datasets. Such an integrated approach is expected to foster innovation and improvement in healthcare outcomes pertaining to brain aging. This cooperation will be enabled via the Alzheimer’s Disease Data Initiative (AD Data Initiative) and the Global Research and Imaging Platform (GRIP), which are co-funded and supported by Gates Ventures.
“We are excited about this unique partnership with CBR that reflects Gates Ventures’ resolve to help overcome R&D bottlenecks in neurodegeneration, particularly Alzheimer’s disease and related dementias. It represents a significant step towards harnessing the power of data and innovation to understand the complexities of brain aging”, says Dr. Niranjan Bose, Managing Director, Health & Life Sciences, Gates Ventures.
Prof. K.V.S. Hari, Director, CBR, says: “At CBR, we aspire to pursue global science with a local context. Joining hands with Gates Ventures is a remarkable milestone that exemplifies this ethos. Together, we look forward to being able to translate cutting-edge research into scalable, culturally relevant solutions that address the challenges of brain disorders affecting the elderly in India.”
