WE ARE COMMITED TO

It is with a heavy heart that the IBAB family bids farewell to its first employee, Prof. Gayatri Saberwal. For 24 years, Prof. Gayatri served IBAB with “fierce loyalty” and steered it to become the pre-eminent institute that it is today, many a time from behind the scenes… Speaking at Prof. Gayatri’s retirement party on Nov 27, 2024, Dr. Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw aptly said that the hallways of IBAB will appear emptier now that Prof. Gayatri is leaving the institute. We wish Prof. Gayatri all the best for her next innings in the science policy domain and thank her for her invaluable contributions to building IBAB from the ground up. DhanyavaadagaLu!

From Nov 28-30, 2024, four Bengaluru institutes, IBAB, MIRM-MAHE, SJNAHS and TDU, successfully conducted the Regional Young Investigators’ Meeting (RYIM) Bengaluru, with the theme “Accelerating Indian Science through Private Investments”. The meeting kicked off with a Crafting Your Career workshop on Nov 28, moderated by Dr. Karishma Kaushik of IndiaBioscience and Prof. Shruthi S. Vembar of IBAB, with 55+ participants. On Nov 29, eminent speakers and mentors from public and private organisations across India drove discussions on the topic “Bridging the gap between Indian academia and private investment”. On Nov 30, discussions centered on the topic “Biomedical translational research: Questions to execution roadmap”. Overall, RYIM Bengaluru was a whopping success, thanks to the active interactions amongst the 60+ participants, 30+ speakers/mentors, 20 volunteers and five organisers. Financial support from IndiaBioscience, Cactus Communications and other partners is duly acknowledged!

Prof. Shyam Rajagopalan from IBAB, in collaboration with Karolinska Institutet, Sweden, has developed a new AI/ML model to assist clinicians towards early detection of Autism from minimal medical and background history information. This work was published in JAMA Network Open. The results of the study are significant as early detection and intervention ultimately help individuals and families towards better quality of life.

Existing Media Coverage (80 news articles): https://jamanetwork.altmetric.com/details/166479071/news

Publication
“Machine Learning Prediction of Autism Spectrum Disorder from a Minimal Set of Medical and Background Information”, Shyam Sundar Rajagopalan, Yali Zhang, Ashraf Yahia, Kristiina Tammimies. Jama Network Open, online August 19, 2024, doi: 10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2024.29229 

Prof. Shyam Rajagopalan from IBAB, in collaboration with researchers and clinicians from the Center for Advanced Research and Excellence in Autism and Developmental Disorders (CARE-ADD), St. John’s National Academy of Health Sciences, Bengaluru, and the International Institute of Information Technology, Bangalore (IIITB), have developed a new AI/ML model to assist clinicians towards detection of Autism by analysing child’s play behaviour videos. By capturing child behaviour videos using novel play-based interaction protocols customized to the Indian context, this study may enable the deployment of AI/ML solutions in primary health care centres in remote regions of India. The work, which is currently under peer review, was presented at the Bangalore Tech Summit 2024 and covered by The Hindu.

Existing Media Coverage: 
https://www.thehindu.com/news/cities/bangalore/researchers-use-computer-vision-for-early-detection-of-autism/article68894133.ece