Chennai: IIT Madras hosted the 3rd BRICS Neuroscience Symposium 2026 from June 5 to June 7, marking the first time the event has been held in India. The symposium brought together leading neuroscientists, clinicians, academicians and researchers from BRICS nations to strengthen global collaboration in brain research.

Organised by the Sudha Gopalakrishnan Brain Centre (SGBC), the event was themed "Expanding Neuroscience: BRICS & Extended Nations" and featured keynote lectures, scientific sessions, panel discussions and clinical perspective talks. A key highlight was the release of the Human Brainstem Atlas, developed by SGBC.

The symposium focused on advancing international cooperation to better understand the human brain and develop technologies to address neurological disorders and improve healthcare outcomes. Discussions covered areas such as brain organisation, neural function, developmental neuroscience, comparative studies and emerging neuro-technologies.

The event also highlighted SGBC's advanced capabilities, including a high-throughput multimodal whole-brain imaging pipeline for mapping human brains at cellular resolution. The symposium builds on previous editions held in Shanghai (2023) and Moscow (2024), reinforcing India's growing role in global neuroscience research and collaborative innovation, said a statement from IIT.