IIT Madras Distinguished Alumnus Prem Watsa has pledged a generous $5 million (approximately INR 41 crore) to support brain research at the Sudha Gopalakrishnan Brain Centre, IIT Madras.
This donation from Fairfax Financial Holdings Limited, the Canadian financial company founded by Watsa, will significantly boost the research activities at the Centre.
V Prem Watsa, who graduated from IIT Madras in 1971 with a First Class degree in Chemical Engineering, was honored with the Distinguished Alumnus Award in 1999. Commending the ongoing research at the Sudha Gopalakrishnan Brain Centre, he stated, “The quality of work and the team’s commitment at IITM’s Sudha Gopalakrishnan Brain Centre is truly outstanding. The technology platform they have developed generates high-resolution image volumes of human brains, which is very unique. It has far-reaching impacts in advancing our knowledge of human brains and developing insights that will lead to solutions for highly challenging brain diseases.”
Watsa added, “To handle this enormous complexity, they are working in close collaboration with brain researchers worldwide. Fairfax is pleased to support this cutting-edge R&D work and we wish them the very best to reach greater heights.”
The Sudha Gopalakrishnan Brain Centre, launched in March 2022, aims to image the human brain at the cellular level, generating unprecedented data, scientific output, and technology tools. The Centre has developed a world-class high-throughput histology pipeline that processes whole human brains into high-resolution digital images at petabyte scale. These unique data sets provide an unprecedented view of human brains, revealing cellular-level details across the entire brain. This data is being studied by leading neuroscience experts globally for new knowledge and discoveries.
Kris Gopalakrishnan, Co-founder of Infosys and Distinguished Alumnus of IIT Madras, who played a key role in establishing the Centre, praised Watsa’s contribution, stating, “I compliment Shri Prem Watsa on his contribution to the Brain Centre at IIT Madras. This augments the support the Centre is already receiving from various philanthropic and CSR funds and enables the Centre to scale up its research on the human brain atlas.”
The donation was facilitated by the Canadian Friends of IIT-Madras (CFIITM), a Canadian Revenue Agency (CRA) registered charity that seeks to advance the cause of IIT-Madras among its Canadian alumni and society at large. Directors of CFIITM, Prof. Marthi Venkatesh Mannar and Prof. Partha Mohanram, expressed their satisfaction with the donation, emphasizing its role in furthering Indo-Canadian cooperation.
Prof. Mahesh Panchagnula, Dean (Alumni and Corporate Relations), IIT Madras, expressed gratitude, saying, “We are delighted to see Prem Watsa supporting a crucial initiative at IIT Madras in relation to understanding the brain.” Prof. Mohanasankar Sivaprakasam, Head of the Sudha Gopalakrishnan Brain Centre, remarked, “This generous support from Prem Watsa will play a critical role in scaling up our work towards becoming a globally leading R&D centre.”
This significant contribution underscores the ongoing commitment of IIT Madras alumni to fostering advanced research and innovation.
