The Nimhans in collaboration with the Institute of Bio-informatics (IOB) on Tuesday launched a laboratory, dedicated to Bio-informatics and Proteomics, to help scientists understand the functioning of brain cells better.

The new advanced mass spectrometer facility for clinical proteomics will help get an insight into the health and diseases that the brain cells might process.

Inaugurating the Advanced Mass Spectrometer Facility, P Satish Chandra, director, Nimhans, said, “The collaboration with IOB is to utilise genomic and proteomic platforms for molecular profiling of neuro infections and neurological diseases.”

He added that Nimhans had also produced a high resolution 'Orbitrap Fusion Tribrid Mass Spectrometer' at the facility to enable mapping of human brain proteome during the development of neurological diseases.

The state-of-art machine with high resolving power cost Rs 6.5 crore and the equipment was installed in a record time of six days to bring it to functionality.

The team has planned to study neurological and psychiatric disorders, neuro infections and brain tumours. In addition, the Nimhans-IOB team proposes to establish a map of proteome and protein modifications in different parts of the human brain during normal development, from foetal to infant, adolescent and adult brain.

To generate proteomic data on several human tissues, Nimhans has also joined hands with Johns Hopkins University.

“This facility will provide an insight into the protein function in brain cells and pave the way for better treatment,” said S R Patil, Minister for Planning and Statistics, IT, BT, Science and technology.