l o a d i n g
Rida Logo
IISc Brain Research Centre Bets on Digital Biomarkers and Large Cohorts to Detect Dementia
Science & Technology

IISc Brain Research Centre Bets on Digital Biomarkers and Large Cohorts to Detect Dementia

IISc Brain Research Centre Bets on Digital Biomarkers and Large Cohorts to Detect Dementia Early in India

Published:Mon Dec 22 2025 05:30:00 GMT+0530 (India Standard Time)

Indian Express
Rida Mascot Public-Health-Insight Ruru
1 5 10
Intensity

Summary

Bengaluru / New Delhi, 20 December 2025: As India rapidly ages, researchers at the Centre for Brain Research (CBR)—an autonomous, non-profit initiative housed at the Indian Institute of Science (IISc), Bengaluru—say digital biomarkers and large-scale longitudinal health datasets could fundamentally change how dementia is detected, tracked, and potentially prevented. In an interview, CBR Director Prof. K.V.S. Hari described dementia as a looming public-health challenge that remains under-recognised in India, and argued that the country needs early-warning systems that can detect disease processes years before clinical symptoms become obvious.

Prof. Hari noted that India is undergoing a demographic shift and projected that by 2030 the elderly population could reach around 340 million, with dementia affecting roughly 7.4% of older adults. He said dementia is often mistakenly seen as a “normal” part of ageing rather than a distinct disease, leading to insufficient policy and societal attention. Crucially, he explained that by the time dementia—or even a pre-dementia state—is clinically diagnosed, the underlying disease process may have already been progressing silently for 15–20 years, making it difficult to intervene once functional decline becomes visible.

Given limited treatment options, the Centre’s strategy is to shift the focus from late-stage diagnosis and drug dependence to early prediction and prevention. Prof. Hari said decades of Alzheimer’s research in animal models have not produced a cure for humans, and that the most recent drug approved in 2024 delays disease onset by only six to eight months. In this context, CBR is prioritising human data to build composite biomarkers—multi-signal indicators that combine information from blood, imaging, behaviour, and lifestyle—to predict dementia risk early, and then design non-pharmacological interventions such as tailored changes in exercise, diet, sleep, and metabolic risk management.

A key theme is the need for India-specific evidence. Prof. Hari said global dementia research is heavily skewed toward Western populations and that genetic risk factors identified in largely Caucasian datasets may not translate cleanly to Indians. He argued that India’s earlier onset of chronic conditions like diabetes and hypertension—often by about a decade compared with Western populations—combined with longer life expectancy could increase dementia risk and accelerate its burden, making Indian genomics and India-specific cohorts essential for reliable prediction models and effective interventions.

To build that evidence base, CBR has established long-running cohorts designed to follow healthy adults over time—before dementia develops—so researchers can observe transitions from normal ageing to pre-dementia and, in some cases, dementia. The Centre launched India’s first urban longitudinal cohort focused on brain ageing in 2015, tracking 1,000 Bengaluru residents over age 45 through annual, multimodal assessments including detailed clinical evaluations, blood collection, cognitive testing, and measurements such as MRI, optical coherence tomography (OCT), audiometry, gait analysis, carotid Doppler, with plans to add EEG. In 2018, it initiated a large rural cohort in Kolar district, supported by mobile units reaching about 200 villages, designed to follow 10,000 participants at two-year intervals; the first-round enrolment of all 10,000 was completed in February 2025. Prof. Hari emphasised that data is de-identified using barcodes and that personally identifying information is not stored with research datasets.

The Centre is also exploring new screening tools that could be deployed more widely. Prof. Hari said advances now allow abnormal dementia-related proteins—previously tracked through invasive cerebrospinal fluid testing—to be detected in blood, and CBR aims to evaluate whether blood-based plasma protein biomarkers can support population-level screening in India, including India-specific reference ranges akin to HbA1c thresholds used in diabetes. Alongside blood markers, he described digital biomarkers—signals derived from speech patterns, gait, movement, eye-tracking, and other wearable or app-based monitoring—as a way to capture subtle changes that annual clinic visits may miss. The goal is to integrate these multimodal signals into an app or platform that can support repeated or continuous monitoring and help flag early risk.

A major structural problem, he said, is that while hospitals collect vast amounts of health data, cognition is rarely assessed, and patient data remains fragmented across institutions. CBR’s proposed solution is to embed standardised cognitive assessments—some developed by NIMHANS and supported by ICMR—into routine health datasets, and then create a coordinated, national-level repository by partnering with hospitals and existing cohorts focused on diabetes, hypertension, and cardiovascular disease. Prof. Hari said this could enable pan-India predictive models that are not limited to a single city or district.

Why this matters:

Dementia is a slow-building disease with a long silent phase, and India’s combination of rapid ageing and early-onset metabolic illness could turn it into a major health-system stress test within the next two decades. If reliable, India-specific early-warning markers can be built—especially using scalable tools like blood tests and digital monitoring—dementia care could shift from late-stage crisis response to earlier, targeted prevention and support. For families, that could mean earlier planning, better quality of life, and delayed disability; for policymakers, it could reshape how brain health is integrated into ageing, chronic disease management, and primary care.

Expand

Outlet-Wise Coverage Analysis | Ruru Ratings

Outlet Ruru Ratings Intensity
Indian Express
Rida Mascot Public-Health-Insight Ruru
6

Notes and Context: Indian Express presents the issue through an explanatory, solutions-oriented interview with Prof. K.V.S. Hari, foregrounding India’s ageing trajectory, the under-recognition of dementia, and the Centre’s approach of large human cohorts, composite biomarkers, and lifestyle interventions, with a strong emphasis on India-specific genomics and scalable screening tools such as blood and digital biomarkers.

Comparative Analysis

Convergence:

The cluster establishes that IISc’s Centre for Brain Research is focused on ageing brain science and dementia prevention, that dementia has a long pre-clinical phase, and that the Centre is building large urban and rural cohorts with multimodal data collection to develop composite and digital biomarkers for early detection. It also converges on the view that treatment options remain limited and that lifestyle interventions and early screening are central to the Centre’s strategy.

Frame Divergence:

With a single-outlet cluster, divergence is limited. The principal framing choice is whether the piece is treated as a technology story about biomarkers or a public-health mission story about India’s demographic shift and prevention strategy.

Indian Express

Indian Express frames the story as a public-health and science mission, using the “digital biomarkers” hook to explain a broader agenda: why dementia is underestimated, why India needs large-scale human data, why genomics and comorbidities matter locally, and how multimodal screening could eventually be operationalised through tools, protocols, and national collaborations.

Quote Spectrum

Rida Quote

Prof. K.V.S. Hari, Director, CBR (IISc)- “By the time dementia or even a pre-dementia state is clinically diagnosed, the underlying disease process has typically been progressing for 15–20 years.”

— Indian Express

Rida Quote

Prof. K.V.S. Hari, Director, CBR (IISc)- “The most recent drug, approved in 2024, delays disease onset by only six to eight months.”

— Indian Express

Rida Quote

Prof. K.V.S. Hari, Director, CBR (IISc)- “We are also developing digital biomarkers… such as speech patterns, gait, and movement… Continuous monitoring allows us to capture these early signals.”

— Indian Express

Rida Quote

Prof. K.V.S. Hari, Director, CBR (IISc)- “Today, data belongs to the patient, with hospitals acting as custodians… data is fragmented… cognition is typically missing.”

— Indian Express

Rida Synthesis

Reference Bench (Official-Data Panel)

  • Indian Express interview with Prof. K.V.S. Hari, Director, Centre for Brain Research (CBR), IISc Bengaluru (20 December 2025)
  • Mentions within the interview to LASI, NIMHANS cognitive tools, and ICMR-supported assessment frameworks (as described by the interviewee)

 

Disclaimer: The analysis, assessments, and comparative interpretations presented above are based on a good-faith, editorial evaluation of publicly available news reports from the referenced outlets. All Ruru ratings, tone/framing observations, and analytical inferences are inherently subjective and reflect Rida’s structured rubric-based methodology rather than any claim of definitive accuracy or intent of the underlying publishers. Readers are encouraged to consult the original articles and primary sources to form their own independent understanding of the events, viewpoints, and narratives discussed. Nothing in this document should be construed as attributing motives, endorsing any political or institutional position, or making any factual representation beyond what is contained in the cited material.