My Perspective

Do humans and monkeys listen to the world in the same way?

2026-04-01T07:01:00.002+00:00

Have you ever wondered how the brain makes sense of the sounds we hear—speech, music, or everyday noises? My latest review paper looks at a simple but important question: do humans and monkeys listen to the world in the same way?

It turns out they don’t.

Humans tend to combine and interpret sound over slightly longer periods of time, while monkeys rely more on short, quick snapshots of sound. These “listening windows” shape how each species understands the acoustic world. Humans, for example, benefit from longer windows because speech unfolds over hundreds of milliseconds and relies on patterns that stretch across time.

The review brings together many studies using brain scans, electrical recordings, and computer models. When you compare all the evidence, a clear pattern appears: the architecture of the human auditory brain has evolved to integrate sound over longer timescales than that of macaques or marmosets. This difference likely helped support the emergence of speech and other complex communication abilities in humans.

In short: human brains listen in longer, more flexible chunks, while monkey brains listen in faster, more immediate slices. Understanding these differences helps us learn not only how the brain processes sound, but also how evolution shaped our ability to communicate.

Reference:

[1] Pradeep D, Christopher I Petkov, Adrian Rees, Timothy D Griffiths, "Evidence for evolutionary divergence in temporal integration windows between human and monkey auditory cortex", Hearing Research, vol. 469. pp. 109489, Jan 2026 (pdf)

A riddle in sanskrit

2026-03-01T06:43:00.000+00:00

I am presenting my first attempt at creating a new Sanskrit shloka which presents a riddle.

Try to solve this riddle.

Here is my attempt at modifying an original verse that was taught to us in Parichaya module to create a similar riddle but rooted in a mythological context while still keeping prosody (छन्दस्) in mind

Riddle:

गुरूणा कथितं, छात्र, श्लोकं लिख ममाज्ञया |

न तेन लिखितः श्लोकः, शिक्षकाज्ञा न लङ्घिता ||

Translation:
A teacher (Sage Veda Vyasa) asked his student (Shri Ganesha) to write a verse (for his epic Mahabharata) according to his directions. Neither he wrote the verse nor did he disobey the teacher.

How is this possible?

Solution to the riddle:

Answer can be obtained by rearranging the words in the verse. Read the words न तेन as one word नतेन means 'with humility' or 'with his head bowed down'. Since Ganesha wrote the verse obediently, Vyasa was not disobeyed by him.

Original shloka: as taught in Parichaya levlel by Samskrita Bharati which gives us the same riddle as a father-son exchange.

तातेन कथितं, पुत्र, लेखं लिख ममाज्ञया |

न तेन लिखितो लेखः, पितुराज्ञा न लोपिता ||

Translation: A father asked his son to write a letter according to his directions. Neither he wrote the letter nor did he disobey the father. How is this possible?

BioMedical Engineering Conference 2025

2026-02-01T23:12:00.003+00:00

At BioMedical Engineering Conference 2025 held in Glasgow on Sept 4th to 5th, I presented my poster on whether Mismatch Negativity (MMN) is a marker of central neuropathic pain Intensity in Spinal Cord Injury (SCI) - these are results from a home-based pilot study.

Abstract:

Cross-sectional studies have shown that pain affects brain activity in Central Neuropathic Pain. However, more studies are needed to establish if mismatch negativity (MMN) is a biomarker for pain intensity. This work aims to determine whether the changes in MMN, i.e., amplitude and latency, is predictive of change in central neuropathic pain intensity due to medication.

In this longitudinal study, ten people with spinal cord injury-related central neuropathic pain recorded their response to MMN experiment using home-based self-guided EEG set-up for ten days both before and after taking medications over a period of several weeks. We found that the change in MMN was not predictive of change in central neuropathic pain intensity due to medications.

Conclusions: Duration-deviant or Frequency-deviant Mismatch Negativity was not able to detect self reported central neuropathic pain intensity. So we conclude that MMN may not be a surrogate or pharmacodynamic marker of Central Neuropathic Pain in people with Spinal Cord Injury.

Reference:

[1] Pradeep D, Neha Ramu, Omkar Solankey, Rab Nawaz, Mariel Purcell, Shannon Diggin, Euan McCaughey, Aleksandra Vuckovic, "Is Mismatch Negativity a Marker of Central Neuropathic Pain Intensity in Spinal Cord Injury: A Home-Based Pilot Study", Bio-Medical Engineering (BioMedEng25) Conference, Sept 4-5, 2025, Glasgow, UK

NeuroHack 2025

2026-01-01T10:53:00.000+00:00

I was selected to participate in Neuro-Hack, a 2-day hackathon powered by ARIA and organised by Nucleate UK. This took place on 28th to 30th Nov at London. The Hackathon brought together an interdisciplinary community interested in developing solutions for engineering a new generation scalable neuro-technologies. The Hackathon sought innovative ways to see, treat, or approach the brain. Key targets included non-surgical access, autonomous delivery, wireless therapeutic action, and non-invasive readouts.

So our product pitch in the competition entitled "Brain Pacer" was a non-invasive, adaptive brain-computer-interface using focussed functional UltraSound (fUS) for sensing and stimulation to deliver personalised neurological therapies.

You can find our product pitch presentation here.

I thank the organizers for selecting me for this hackathon and awarding me with a travel grant.

A promising avenue for treating Misophonia

2025-12-01T08:42:00.001+00:00

A recent study by Turrini et al [1] used cortico-cortical paired associative stimulation (ccPAS) - an non-invasive brain stimulation technique to manipulate brain connectivity achieved via network-based transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) - to alter effective connectivity in action observation network (AON) via Hebbian spike-timing-dependent plasticity (STDP). They showed that enhancing (or weakening) the connectivity between the ventral part of the PreMotor cortical area (PMv) and the primary motor cortex (M1) increases (or decreases) the tendency to automatically imitate the behaviour of others. They also showed that enhancing supplementary motor area’s (SMA) connectivity with M1 actually induces a greater ability to avoid imitation when it is inappropriate to the context. This provides us with a promising avenue to treat disorders of aberrant mirroring.

Misophonia is a condition where people have extreme distress towards everyday bodily sounds like eating, chewing, breathing etc which are called trigger sounds. This causes the sufferers to avoid social situations like social meals at home, eating out or going to movies. Thus they experience significant loneliness and isolation even within their home.

Using functional MRI, we previously [2] reported a differential activation in Misophonia sufferers in response to trigger sounds much more than for other sounds in the motor brain, especially the brain area that is involved in representing lip, tongue, and jaw movement (i.e. chewing). Secondly, we also reported increased functional connectivity between the brain area that represents chewing to the secondary auditory brain in Misophonia sufferers during perception of any sound. Lastly, we also reported an enhanced functional connectivity in resting state fMRI in Misophonia sufferers between the brain area that represents chewing and auditory and visual brain areas.

We proposed [2] a model of Misophonia based on involuntary ‘mirroring’ of action of others, where trigger sounds or images activate the part of the brain in Misophonia sufferers as if they are executing the movements themselves. We suggested that this involuntary overactivation of the 'mirror' system may lead to either a sense of loss of control or interference in current goals and actions of Misophonia sufferers. Thus this results in extreme anger or irritation in Misophonia sufferers.

Given that we have shown Misophonia to be aberrant overactivation of the ‘mirror’ system, we proposed [3] to employ network-based TMS - shown [1] to effectively manipulate brain connectivity - by decreasing effective connectivity between PMv and M1 in Misophonia sufferers to reduce automatic imitative behaviour and enable them to be less sensitive to interference in their everyday tasks.

References:

[1] Turrini, Sonia, Francesca Fiori, Naomi Bevacqua, Chiara Saracini, Boris Lucero, Matteo Candidi, and Alessio Avenanti. "Spike-timing-dependent plasticity induction reveals dissociable supplementary–and premotor–motor pathways to automatic imitation." Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 121, no. 27 (2024): e2404925121.
Link: https://www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/pnas.2404925121

[2] S Kumar, P Dheerendra, M Erfanian, E Benzaquen, W Sedley, M Lad, PE Gander, DE Bamiou, TD Griffiths, "The motor basis for Misophonia", Journal of Neuroscience, vol 41(26), pp. 5762-5770, 2021 Link: https://www.jneurosci.org/content/41/26/5762

[3] Pradeep D, Sukhbinder Kumar, Phillip E Gander, Joel I Berger, Lars F Muckli, "Reducing hyper mirroring in misophonia: A proposal for cortico-cortical paired associative stimulation (ccPAS) as a potential intervention for treatment", Medical Hypotheses, vol. 206, p. 111840, Jan 2026
Link: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0306987725002798

Shooting star award

2025-11-01T09:06:00.005+00:00

I was conferred with Shooting Star 'Utkrashtakarta' उत्कृष्टकर्ता Award during Diwali event organized by Scottish Hindu Foundation, on 29th October 2025 hosted by Secretary of state for Scotland at Queen Elizabeth House, Edinburgh, UK, in the presence of MPs and members of Scottish Parliament (MSP) including Jackie Baillie, Sandesh Gulhane, Michael Marra, and Lord Provost of Glasgow. This award is to recognize my efforts (via iSeek) through gamification of Indian culture and heritage including Hinduism, Scriptures, Yoga, Sanskrit, Indic Language and Arts.

The award citation said "Dr. Pradeep is a neuroscientist, engineer, and digital creator whose work unites science, culture, and technology. A Ph.D. in Auditory Neuroscience from Newcastle University, he has pioneered the gamification of Indian culture through his social initiative iSeek — designing twenty five free-to-play digital games on Yoga, Sanskrit, Hinduism, and Indian heritage, in collaboration with organizations such as the Scottish Hindu Foundation, Yogavijnana, Sanskrut Bhakti, Samskrita Bharati, and The Hindu Temple of Scotland.

His games, featured on projects like Project Shatam, make learning ancient knowledge joyful and interactive. His paper on Digital Game-Based Learning for Sanskrit was presented at the 19th World Sanskrit Conference, Nepal in 2025. Beyond cultural innovation, his neuroscience research explores the brain basis of sound perception, auditory cognition and emotion, including popular work on Misophonia. His journey exemplifies how tradition and technology can come together to inspire curiosity, learning, and inner awareness."

At the annual celebration, SHF conferred a total of three awards apart from me - Guiding star award to Smt Brij Lata Gandhi, Rising star award to Ms. Sowparnika Gopalakrishnan, and Hindu Business award to Dr Nivedita Natarajan. Here is a picture of all awardees in 2025.

I thank Scottish Hindu Foundation for conferring this special award on me to recognize my efforts. I have been publishing knowledge games aimed towards my community for a couple of years now. So it means a lot coming from my own community.

Gratitude!

Here is a brief video of me receiving the award.

Is the iron dysregulated in the mirror neuron system in misophonia?

2025-10-01T09:08:00.001+00:00

In my latest paper, we hypothesize that in Misophonia (a condition characterized by intense emotional and physiological reactions to specific human-generated sounds) there is a self-perpetuating cycle of mirror system hyperactivity mediated by iron dysregulation.

Here is the predicted pathological self-perpetuating cycle: Mirror system hyperactivity  →  Metabolic stress  →  Iron accumulation  →  Inflammation  →  Impaired inhibition  →  Involuntary mimicry.

We suggest that therapies aimed at breaking this self-perpetuating loop may offer effective strategies for managing Misophonia.

Reference:

[1] Pradeep Dheerendra, Soumita Ramesh, "Is iron dysregulation in the mirror motor cortex associated with misophonia?", Medical Hypotheses, vol. 204, p. 111765, Nov 2025.

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.mehy.2025.111765

Abstract: Iron homeostasis plays a critical role in brain function and mental health, yet its dysregulation in specific psychiatric conditions remains underexplored. In this article, we propose iron accumulation in the brains of individuals with misophonia — a condition characterized by intense emotional and physiological reactions to specific human-generated sounds. Based on the known involvement of the mirror neuron system in misophonia, we hypothesize that excessive iron concentration in the mirror motor cortex is a result of abnormal hyperactivity in this region. We propose that chronic overactivation of mirror motor cortex leads to increased metabolic demand and elevated cerebral blood flow, facilitating excessive iron influx. This may trigger low-grade chronic neuroinflammation, promoting maladaptive synaptic plasticity and long-term potentiation. The resulting impaired inhibitory control and heightened functional connectivity with primary sensory areas may further exacerbate hyper-mirroring. We propose future studies should confirm the existence of this self-perpetuating cycle which would imply that interventions aimed at reducing mirror system hyperactivity could disrupt this cycle and offer a promising therapeutic strategy for misophonia.

Here is a copy of the full paper:

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1ffMrfowWitjrrObcEvZ_67UN64tZNNMx/view?usp=sharing

Wolfson Summer School on Youth MH Research

2025-09-01T05:44:00.001+00:00

This summer school on youth mental health research is organized by Wolfson Center for Young People's Mental Health at Cardiff University. The three-day course takes place online, run by the expert interdisciplinary team based at this center.

I was selected to attend the 4th annual online summer school on ‘Youth Mental Health Research’. This year this school was held on July 7-9, 2025 that covered topics relating to epidemiology, genetics, neuroscience and intervention development for mental health conditions in youth.

Here is a brief outline of this summer school's 2025 edition.

Day 1 - July 7th 2025:

After welcome and introduction, Professor Stephan Collishaw (co-director for the Wolfson Centre) spoke on "Secular trends in young people's mental health".

Next, Professor Frances Rice (Professor of Developmental Psychopathology) gave a talk on "Prevention of depression".

After lunch, we had a talk on "Challenges for youth mental health and the current landscape" by Professor Frances Rice

The last session of first day we were split into parallel small-group sessions. I attended a session on "The mental health and wellbeing of children and young people who've experienced care", by Dr Rebecca Anthony (Post-Doctoral Research Associate).

Day 2 - July 8th 2025:

We started the day with a networking session where we were randomly put in to small groups which allowed us to discuss our backgrounds and research questions with others attending this school.

Next, we had a talk on "Genetics of Youth MH and Neurodevelopmental conditions" by Dr Joanna Martin (Senior Research Fellow).

This was followed by a session on "Global perspectives on mental health programs and policies" by Dr Yulia Shenderovich (Reader) and Dr Rabeea’h Aslam.

After lunch, Dr Lucy Riglin (Lecturer) spoke on "Developmental approach and longitudinal analysis".

Similar to day one, we ended this day with small-group parallel sessions. I attended a session on "Translating research findings into policy" by Dr Chris Eaton (Research Associate funded by Welsh government as well as center).

Day 3 - July 9th 2025:

We started the day with a talk on "The importance and application of neuroscience in psychiatry" by Professor Jeremy Hall.

Next, we had a session on "Suicide and self-harm" by Professor Ann John.

This was followed by a Virtual coffee with Summer School speakers to network with faculty and researchers.

After lunch, we had a session on "Mental health in schools and evaluation of complex interventions" by Professor Graham Moore (Director of DECIPHer project).

The penultimate session of the last day of the summer school was parallel sessions. I attended a talk on "Research careers for prospective students" by Dr Will Davies.

We ended the online summer school with a virtual group photo.

Summary:

The Wolfson Summer School is aimed at prospective researchers who are interested in moving into or learning more about the field of youth mental health research. It is a must not miss opportunity for early career researchers who wish to explore various topics before choosing to specialize.

I am grateful to Wolfson school for organizing such an excellent event and giving me an opportunity to participate in it. I hope to take the learnings to help me further my research in psychiatry.

References:

[1] https://www.cardiff.ac.uk/wolfson-centre-for-young-peoples-mental-health/training/summer-school

Closed Loop Neurotechnology Hackathon

2025-08-01T08:13:00.003+00:00

I was selected to participate in the UK's first 'Closed Loop Neurotechnology' Hackathon 2025 which took place on 26th and 27th June at Imperial College London.

The Hackathon challenge was to help people relax by increasing prefrontal alpha rhythm via closed loop auditory stimulation using Elemind's real world product that is meant for putting people to sleep.

Our closed loop design was based on neural entrainment to amplitude modulated pink noise sounds whose AM frequency is at the peak of the alpha rhythm dependent on individual subject's EEG recording.

We chose entrainment or resonant coupled oscillators model to increase alpha frequency since the communication delay between device and our Windows computer was too high on Python (even data loss) while on MATLAB it was 200-400ms variable delay. Under such conditions where delay is not constant and high, phase locked stimulation might back fire since it could decrease instead of increasing alpha power if mistimed. Hence our strategy chose entrainment. In any case, such USB driver issues were minimal on MacBooks which used Python.

We did not win [2] the contest but we are happy that we could end up fourth place after salvaging our situation (all team members were on Windows Laptop [3]) to demonstrate a powerful technique which stood Hackathon testing on 18 external subjects and 4 internal team members.

I thank the organizers for selecting me and awarding a travel grant to cover the expenses related my participation in this event.

Here is our contest presentation:

Reference:

[1] https://research.ncl.ac.uk/close-nit/eventsfundingcalls/neurotechnologyhackathon/

[2] https://www.imperial.ac.uk/dementia-research-institute/events/closed-loop-neurotechnology-hackathon/

[3] On Windows the delay in getting the buffer was 200 to 400 ms (variable) unlike MacOS / Linux where it was fixed 20 ms delay. This variable large delay on windows is not good for closed loop real time implementation.

Molyneux question on auditory perception

2025-07-04T22:42:00.003+00:00

In 1688 the Irish scientist and politician William Molyneux sent a letter to the philosopher John Locke. In it, he asked him a question:

Could someone who was born blind, and able to distinguish a globe and a cube by touch, be able to immediately distinguish and name these shapes by sight if given the ability to see?

A scientific study [1] actually answered this question by conducting an experiment on the congenitally blind who have just been given the ability to see. They reported that such subjects could not distinguish a cube from a sphere by sight alone after their sight was restored, but they could rapidly learn to distinguish these shapes.

I ask a related question here:

Could someone who was born deaf (congenitally), and able to distinguish a snare drum from a cymbal by touch alone, be able to immediately distinguish and name these musical instruments by their sound alone (without seeing or feeling them) if given the ability to hear?

I think the latest study published in Nature Medicine [2] is rightly positioned to answer this question. I hope they investigate this very interesting question.

References:

[1] Held, R., Ostrovsky, Y., de Gelder, B., Gandhi, T., Ganesh, S., Mathur, U. and Sinha, P., 2011. The newly sighted fail to match seen with felt. Nature neuroscience, 14(5), pp.551-553.

https://www.nature.com/articles/nn.2795

[2] Qi, J., Zhang, L., Lu, L. et al. AAV gene therapy for autosomal recessive deafness 9: a single-arm trial. Nature Medicine (2025).

https://doi.org/10.1038/s41591-025-03773-w

Yoga Sutra Quiz

2025-06-01T07:01:00.002+00:00

I developed a multiple choice game as a web app. One can learn the meaning of verses from Patanjali's Yoga Sutra written in classical Sanskrit language. When the player finds the correct meaning of the verse they will see the time taken and number of guesses they needed.

This game can be played either on a desktop or a hand held device.

https://pd2.github.io/patanjali-yoga-sutra/

Samskrita Shibhiram 2025

2025-05-02T10:27:00.000+00:00

Saṃskṛta Bhāratī UK organized the 15th annual Saṃskṛta Saṃbhāṣaṇa Śibiram (residential Spoken Sanskrit Camp) at Leicester over the Easter long-weekend (3 days & 2 nights, spanning nearly 40 hours of learning and speaking Sanskrit).

In this residential camp (Śibiram) I got to stay in a beautiful natural setting in the village near Loughborough in Leicester. I learnt and spoke Saṃskṛtam for 3 days without any distractions. This was a very good opportunity for improving my Saṃskṛtam that I had learned previously in school and currently via online classes.

I thank the organizers for giving me the opportunity to present my 20+ Indic Knowledge web games by iSeek that I have created so far. Looking at the enthusiasm of the community, I even gave them a first glimpse at "Panchang puzzle", a work-in-progress game that I am yet to launch.

I also thank the organizers for giving me a platform to hold an UK premiere of "Sri-Satya-Narayana-Katha" an animation movie entirely in Sanskrit language (with English subtitles) that was created by Samskrita Bharati USA and Canada.

This camp has proved to be very successful in not just learning the language, but also imbibe the cultural values and also re-energize myself. More importantly, I got to network and form friendships with others with similar cultural values and ethos.

"Jayatu Samskrutam" - Love live Sanskrit.

Sahasranama game

2025-04-01T06:13:00.008+00:00

I developed a combo "wordle" + "Hangman" like puzzle as a web app. One can test their grasp over Vishnu Sahasranama in this game.

The player has to guess one of the names of Vishnu as listed in the Sahasranama based on the English meaning that is revealed as a clue. All valid guesses are the names of Vishnu. One can use hint shown in Hangman style.

This game can be played either on a desktop or a hand held device.

https://pd2.github.io/sahasranama/

My school mate had provided the link of my Vishnu Sahasranama based wordle game to the Head mistress of a Vishnu Gupta Vishwa Vidyalaya, a Gurukul in Gokarna where his daughter studies. He told me that the HM used it with the students to make them aware of Vishnu Sahasranama and she had also conducted a quiz using my game.

I am so glad that my game is being used for real in a school.

Meaningful Birthday song

2025-03-01T07:10:00.001+00:00

The "happy birthday" song that we sing on someone's birthday is quite prosaic, dull, and repetitive to say the least. Maybe it it so because it addresses the lowest common denominator i.e. children who are yet to learn a language fully. If so then it is not for the adults to also sing the same song. Here is a meaningful birthday song in Sanskrit with its meaning.

Song in Sanskrit:

अयि प्रिय सखे जन्मदिनमिदम् ।

प्रार्थयामहे भव शतायुषी ॥ १ ॥

पुण्य कर्मणा कीर्तिमार्जय ।

जीवनम् तव भवतु सार्थकम् ॥ २ ॥

Transliteration of the poem:

ayi priya sakhē janmadinamidaṃ ।

prārthayāmahē bhava śatāyuṣī ॥ 1 ॥

puṇya karmaṇā kīrtimarjaya ।

jīvanaṃ tava bhavatu sārthakam ॥ 2 ॥

Translation in English:

Oh dear friend, today is your birthday;

We all pray for your long life.

By noble deeds may you attain fame;

May your life be meaningful.

Credits:

[x] Original Birthday Song in Sanskrit by Swami Tejomayanandaji
Link - https://www.chinmayajyoti.org/documents/birthdaysong.pdf

Open Research Prize

2025-02-01T12:01:00.001+00:00

I was nominated for 'Open Research Award' 2024 from Newcastle University for my leading contribution in making 15+ software and 4+ datasets from Auditory Cognition Group as open source.

The Open Research Awards recognises colleagues and students who have used open practices to make research more accessible, transparent or reproducible, and demonstrate an understanding of the aims of open research.

Reference:

[1] Open Research Award Winners - https://www.ncl.ac.uk/library/academics-and-researchers/research/open-research/awards/

Tree-ID game

2025-01-01T10:55:00.001+00:00

I developed a hang man style game as a web app. The challenge is to identify the tree by clues in the form of pictures of its bark, bud and leaf. Upon each unsuccessful guess of a letter, a new clue is revealed as pictures with the final clue being the Latin name. When the player correctly identifies the tree, they will see the time taken by them. One can learn more about natural history. This is supported on both desktop and handheld devices.

Try the Tree-ID game here - https://pd2.github.io/tree-id/

Speech Entrainment in Schizophrenia

2024-12-01T07:56:00.000+00:00

My latest paper in the Neuroimage: clinical journal assessed the impairments in neural entrainment to speech envelope in early stage psychosis.

Impairments in language processing in Schizophrenia are a central aspect of the disorder but the underlying pathophysiology mechanisms are unclear. We tested the hypothesis that neural oscillations are impaired during speech tracking in early-stage Schizophrenia and in participants at clinical high-risk for psychosis (CHR-P).

Magnetoencephalography (MEG) was used in combination with source reconstructed time-series to examine delta and theta-band entrainment during continuous speech. Participants were presented with a 5-minute audio recording during which they either attended to the story or word level.

Theta-band entrainment in left Heschl’s gyrus, averaged across groups, was significantly lower in the STORY compared to WORD condition, and averaged over conditions, significantly lower in CHR-Ps, but intact in early schizophrenia patients, compared to controls. Correlation analyses between MEG data and symptom indicated that lower theta-band tracking in CHR-Ps was linked to the severity of perceptual abnormalities.

Our results show that CHR-P participants involve impairments in theta-band entrainment during speech tracking in left primary auditory cortex while higher-order speech processing areas were intact. Moreover, the severity of aberrant perceptual experiences in CHR-P participants correlated with deficits in theta-band entrainment.

Together, these findings highlight the possibility that neural oscillations during language processing could reveal fundamental abnormalities in speech processing which may constitute candidate biomarkers for early detection and diagnosis of Schizophrenia.

Reference:

[1] Tineke Grent-‘t-Jong, Pradeep D, Paolo Fusar-Poli, Joachim Gross, Andrew I Gumley, Rajeev Krishnadas, Lars Muckli, Peter J Uhlhaas, "Entrainment of Neural Oscillations during Language Processing in Early-Stage Schizophrenia", Neuroimage: Clinical, vol. 44, p. 103695, 2024

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2213158224001360

Kagga game

2024-11-04T10:50:00.001+00:00

D V Gundappa (or DVG as he is fondly known as) was an Indian writer, poet and philosopher in Kannada-language. He is one of the stalwarts of modern Kannada literature. He wrote "Mankuthimmana Kagga" which literally means Rigmaroles for the common man.

On the occasion of Kannada Rajyotsava, I'm launching my gamification of the entire 945 Kagga poem collection. The goal is to make Kaggas accessible to the newer generations who are addicted to their smart phones.

Game Design: I show the Kagga in Kannada text and its meaning in English (for maximal reach). Next I present the Kagga by jumbling up its 4 lines transliterated in English. The player is expected to put these 4 out of sequence lines into the correct order. The clue is its English meaning. The metrics are the number of tries and time taken to get it right.

Is the game interesting enough to you for spending 2 mins daily to learn the Kagga?

#KaggaGame I learnt the meaning of Kagga no. 1 in 37 sec at https://pd2.github.io/kagga-game/

"A Kagga a day, to show you the way!"

Explorathon 2024

2024-10-01T07:19:00.001+00:00

As a part of Centre for Neurotechnology (CfN) team, on 21st and 22nd Sep 2024 at Advanced Research Centre, Glasgow University, I interacted with the general public of all ages at Explorathon 2024 event to demonstrate ElectroEncepahloGraphy (EEG which records electrical activity of the brain) and to celebrate 100 years of EEG. The audience got to wear portable dry electrode EEG headsets and were able to see neurofeedback in action.

Shabd puzzle on Noun declensions

2024-09-01T10:28:00.001+00:00

I developed a web game on vibhakthi pratyayas (noun declensions) in Sanskrit language. Here, I gamified Sanskrit based rules of grammar for declining nouns as a sorting puzzle of the Shabd table.

This game entitled 'Shabd' has all three genders, all types of word ending, both for nouns and pronouns. I have included 40 Shabd tables in all. Check your memory on राम shabd below.

I learnt the #declension of Masculine word ending in 'a': "Rama" Sanskrit for "God" in 71 sec at https://pd2.github.io/shabd/

14th Summer School on ‘Brain Disorders Research’

2024-08-01T08:00:00.010+00:00

The annual Summer School on ‘Brain Disorders Research’ [1] is organised by Centre for Neuropsychiatric Genetics and Genomics (CNGG) [2], Cardiff University. This year the fourteenth edition of the summer school was held on July 8-11, 2024 in Cardiff, Wales. Here, I am documenting brief learnings and my reflections on participating in this summer school.

The participants consisted of both students and researchers from neuroscience, and bioinformatics background as well as clinicians who were mainly trainee psychiatrists. We had participants from as far as HongKong and China who came to the UK just to participate in this program.

Given this heterogeneous mixture in the audience, the organisers ensured that sufficient background information is shared before introducing new topics be it neuroimaging or genomics. Since I do not have a background in bioinformatics, this introductory information on it was very important to understand and relate to the state of the art research findings that were shared by the speakers later on.

The 4 days of summer school covered topics relating to genetics, genomics and neuroimaging of psychiatric and neurological disorders. The talks on first day focussed on High Throughput Sequencing while second day focussed on Neuroimaging and Neurology and days 3-4 focussed on Genetics aspects. The wide breadth of techniques and brain disorders covered speaks to the world leading research conducted by CNGG.

Day 1 - 8th July 2024:

After event registration and welcome lunch, the first session on the first day was by Professor Nigel Williams who introduced the principles of high-throughput sequencing covering sample preparation and equipment used.

Then, we had our first of the lab tours on High Throughput Sequencing facilities led by Dr Alexandra Evans and their team. For someone like me who does not have a bioinformatics background this was a great opportunity to understand the wet lab procedures that result in the digital genomics data that were discussed in the rest of the summer school.

After coffee, Dr Elliott Rees spoke about the Analysis and Interpretation of sequencing data. He spoke about sequence data processing and shared recent findings on exome wide sequencing in Schizophrenia which showed that the genetic risk for SCZ is mainly concentrated in the loss of function (LoF) intolerant genes.

The final talk of the day on Copy Number Variants in neurodevelopmental disorders was given by Professor George Kirov. I learnt that CNVs primarily occur due to Low Copy Repeat (LCR) regions and non-allelic homologous recombinations. The key message is that pathogenic CNVs are frequently de-novo in origin. ~5% in SCZ but due to the low survival of CNV carriers, these CNVs get selected against.

Day 2 - 9th July 2024:

The first session on the second day was by Dr Xavier Caseras who introduced how Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) is used to understand mental disorders covering how background information on how contrasts in T1 structural, T2* functional (BOLD), Diffusion Tensor Imaging (DTI) are obtained in an MRI scanner.

Next, we were split up into groups to have a tour of the Neuroimaging facilities of CUBRIC [3] by Professor Neil Harrison and team. We saw the ultra high field 7T MRI scanner used for laminar fMRI given its higher resolution, Lithium and Phosphate imaging apart from Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy. We also got the opportunity to view one of a kind (4 such in the entire world) the 3T Connectome scanner whose gradient coils and hardware are optimised for performing DTI. We also saw MagnetoEncephaloGraphy (MEG), Hyper Fine 0.06T portable MRI scanner funded by the Gates Foundation.

After coffee, Professor Arianna Di Florio spoke about reproductive psychiatry and the effect of gender and sex on mental health.

After lunch, Professor Stephan Collishaw spoke about a developmental approach to understanding child and adolescent mental health. Given the substantial long term increase in global adolescent MH diagnosis, it is important to research the underlying reason for this. This is an urgent societal challenge requiring timely intervention since 80% of psychiatric conditions begin before 18 years of age, and most young people do not receive treatment. I became aware of ‘Wolfson Summer School’ [4] that provides training on young people's mental health research that I hope to participate in the future.

After coffee, Dr Karim Kreft spoke about the Genetics of Multiple Sclerosis. There are 15 approved disease modifying treatments (DMT) but there is a lack of good predictors of response to treatment and risk of development of sustained disability. So they took a genetics approach to improve the disease modelling. They found a genetic cluster that does not respond to the current DMTs and would benefit from alternate treatments.

Final talk of the second day was by Dr Tom Massey who spoke about Huntington's disease (HD) on how to translate genetics into therapies. It is known that higher the number of CAG repeats (above 40) in the HTT gene leads to HD, we still need to perform GWAS studies to predict the exact age of HD onset.

Day 3 - 10th July 2024:

The first session on the third day was by Professor Anthony Isles on Preclinical mouse models for schizophrenia where he spoke about his work using SETD1A knockout mouse model that lead to 4 genes which have both rare variants as well as common variants. He also highlighted the work of MURIDAE and the MRC National Mouse Genetic Network.

Next, Dr Yasir Syed spoke about the emerging technologies like CRISPR-Cas9, single-cell sequencing. This was followed by the lab tour on how to make neurons from stem cells. We learnt about the typical 100 day period required to convert a skin cell to its pluripotent state using Yamanaka cocktail and then push it to any required neuron type through the application of the right chemicals. Now they have developed techniques to push a cell from one specialised state like skin cell to another specialised state like neuron in 4 days without going through the entire pluripotent stage.

After lunch, we had two parallel sessions - one for clinicians on research careers in medicine by Dr Kimberley Kendall. I attended the session on careers for non-medical scientists by Dr Will Davies. He gave a comprehensive overview of most populars fellowships and grants for early career researchers while highlighting the strengths and likelihood of success of each scheme.

Then we had an industry expert Dr Gerry Dawson, CEO of P1vital Ltd, talk on drug discovery in psychiatry. Their company has now piloted an effective digital intervention in the form of a tetris game to reduce intrusive thoughts in PTSD sufferers. This is exciting since it does not involve any medication and its side effects. Since my hobby is to develop online games (www.iseek.page) I am really excited about this development and hope to explore and contribute to the development of such games used as digital interventions for mental health problems.

After a coffee break, Dr Rhys Thomas, Newcastle University, spoke on the genetics of epilepsy covering the five genetic tests for epilepsy.

Next, Dr Mathew D Hoskins spoke about the use of Psychedelics in psychiatric treatment highlighting his investigation of using MDMA for treating PTSD and using Ketamine for tackling treatment resistant depression.

The final talk of the day was Dr Jeremy Hall, on the importance of application of neuroscience to psychiatry. He highlighted how in future an MRI scan could aid in the diagnosis of mental health problems.

The summer school participants were invited for a social meal at Tiny Rebel Bar. After the dinner, we even watched the EURO semi finals soccer match - England vs Netherlands.

Day 4 - 11th July 2024:

The first talk of the day was by Dr Dmitri Sastin who spoke on how neuroimaging can aid in the epileptic seizure focal localisation that would help in the functional neurosurgery to resect the focal region causing ictogenesis.

Next Dr Emily Simmonds spoke on how to measure the risk for developing Alzheimer’s disease. She highlighted how having the APOE4 gene is the highest risk factor for developing AD but nevertheless more research is required to understand other factors that affect the risk for developing AD.

After coffee, Professor James Walters spoke about the advances in the genetics of psychiatric disorders. He pointed out that Schizophrenia has the highest heritability of all psychiatric conditions. Yet there is much to be done to completely understand the underlying genetic risks.

The final session of the summer school was a workshop on Social and ethical aspects of genetic testing led by Dr Kimberley Kendall and Professor George Kirov. We discussed how incidental genetic findings can be tricky to handle and have to be consented in advance to be able to reveal such details to patients.

Reflections:

I am grateful to the CNGG, Cardiff University for organising such an excellent event and giving me an opportunity to participate in this summer school where I learnt so much about such varied topics. I hope to take the learnings from the summer school to help me further my research. CNGG completely funded the costs of participation in the summer school including registration costs, accommodation and food over the entire duration of the course. Further, I assume that these talks would typically be delivered in their Masters program on Applied Bioinformatics [5] (tuition fees is around £12,000) which allow us to realise the real value of this summer school.

If you wish to learn about genetics of psychiatric and neurological disorders and get a chance to participate in this annual summer school on Brain Disorders Research then do not miss it as it is a great learning opportunity.

References:

[1] Link to the annual summer school on Brain Disorders Research

- https://www.cardiff.ac.uk/centre-neuropsychiatric-genetics-genomics/study/summer-school

[2] Centre for Neuropsychiatric Genetics and Genomics (CNGG), Cardiff University

- https://www.cardiff.ac.uk/centre-neuropsychiatric-genetics-genomics

[3] Cardiff University Brain Research Imaging Centre (CUBRIC)

- https://www.cardiff.ac.uk/cardiff-university-brain-research-imaging-centre/

[4] Wolfson Summer School in Youth Mental Health Research

- https://www.cardiff.ac.uk/wolfson-centre-for-young-peoples-mental-health/training/summer-school

[5] MSc program on Applied Bioinformatics, Cardiff University

- https://www.cardiff.ac.uk/study/postgraduate/taught/courses/course/applied-bioinformatics-and-genomics-msc-full-time

Glasgow Science Festival

2024-07-02T16:40:00.001+00:00

Glasgow Science Festival (GSF) returned for its 18th year, celebrating how research is transforming our lives, our cities, and our futures. GSF has over 150+ events spread across 40+ venues across the City of Glasgow, Scotland, UK.

As a part of Centre for Neurotechnology (CfN), on 9th and 10th Jun 2024 at Glasgow Science Centre, I engaged with the general public of all ages to demonstrate Electroencephalography (EEG) based NeuroFeedBack (NFB) on volunteers who would wear a EEG headband and control their brain rhythm with a real-time visual feedback. This is an exciting application of Brain Computer Interface (BCI).

2023 roundup award from Glitch

2024-06-01T08:47:00.002+00:00

My gamification of Bhagavad Gita as a typing web app received an Honorary Mention in the category "Made You Learn" for the 2023 'Last year on Glitch' roundup awards by Glitch.com.

This project aims to popularize Bhagavad Gita in the younger generation through gamification.

Link to the award announcement: https://glitch.com/discover

My game was first featured in Glitch's monthly newsletter in Nov 23 linked below.

https://blog.glitch.com/post/november-2023-on-glitch-challenges-and-self-reflections/

Link to the game: https://gita-typing-game.glitch.me/

Yoga Pose Search game

2024-05-01T09:52:00.006+00:00

Here is my latest simple web game based on searching a word in jumbled up letters.

Your challenge is to search for English names of the yoga poses (asanas) in a grid of letters. This is a fun way to think about the different poses that each asana makes.

Just like the Aasanas themselves, the English words, that the pose represents (object), can also be in horizontal, vertical, or diagonal, either forward or in in reverse order on the grid.

You can solve the #YogaPose search in a letter grid game to learn about 5 Asanas at

Link: https://pd2.github.io/yoga-pose-search/

Please give me your feedback as well as your ideas for a small fun game that I could work on next.

Open Source movement is Sattvic

2024-04-03T16:01:00.003+00:00

As per Bhagavad Gita, "Open Source" movement is the greatest and purest form of work (Sattvic). So in this spirit, I have open sourced my research work (source code and data) at Open Science Framework - https://osf.io/kf2vj/ and the papers I have published are in open access if not then shared by me freely on my website.

'Bhagavad Gita, the sacred book of the Hindus, says there are 3 kinds of work - Sattvic, Rajasic, and Tamasic.

Chapter 18, Verse 23:
niyatam sangarahitam araagadweshatah kritam
aphalaprepsunaa karma yattat saatwikamuchyate

Meaning: An action which is obligatory, which is free from attachment, which is done without love or hatred by one who is not desirous of any reward - that action is declared to be Sattvic.

So this implies open source movement is Sattvic in nature!

Chapter 18, Verse 24:
yattu kaamepsunaa karma saahankaarena vaa punah
kriyate bahulaayaasam tadraajasamudaahritam

Meaning: But that action which is done by one longing for the fulfillment of desires or gains, with egoism or with much effort - that is declared to be Rajasic.

So I would classify paid software as Rajasic.

Chapter 18, Verse 25:
anubandham kshayam himsaam anavekshya cha paurusham
mohaadaarabhyate karma yattat taamasamuchyate

Meaning: That action which is undertaken from delusion, without regard to the consequence, loss, injury and one's own ability- that is declared to be Tamasic.

So virus, worms, and trojan software would come under Tamasic.