Best Place To BuildDr. Mohanasankar S | “Students experimenting, building, failing, & learning is now the norm”| Ep. 17
CHAPTERS
- 0:00 – 0:33
Why “building solutions” in med-tech demands deep theory and multi-disciplinarity
The episode opens with Dr. Mohanasankar framing what it really means to “build solutions”: strong fundamentals, layered engineering execution, and inherently interdisciplinary work. He sets the context with the Brain Center’s advanced platform and the release of comprehensive digital brain maps as a public resource.
- •Building solutions requires strong theory plus multiple execution layers (scalable systems, products, supply chain)
- •Brain Center positioned as a cutting-edge technology platform
- •Neuroscience + engineering is inherently multi- and interdisciplinary
- •Public release of high-quality digital brain maps as a global resource
- 0:33 – 1:37
Meet Dr. Mohanasankar: IITM professor, Brain Center & HTIC head, and ‘builder’
The host introduces the podcast’s mission—understanding why IIT Madras is a ‘best place to build’—and welcomes Dr. Mohanasankar. He’s positioned not just as an academic, but as a hands-on builder spanning research, translation, and entrepreneurship.
- •Podcast setup at Sudha & Shankar Innovation Hub
- •Dr. Mohanasankar’s roles: Electrical Engineering professor, Brain Center head, HTIC head
- •Framing him as a “medical tech builder”
- •Conversation starts with the Brain Center’s work
- 1:37 – 4:31
The Brain Center’s origin: Kris Gopalakrishnan’s seed and a frontier goal
Dr. Mohanasankar explains how the Brain Center began with a philanthropic vision from alumnus Kris Gopalakrishnan. The guiding idea was to work at the intersection of neuroscience and engineering and push India to the cutting edge.
- •Seed idea from Kris Gopalakrishnan (2015–16)
- •Explicit focus: intersection of neuroscience and engineering
- •Ambition: put India at the frontier of human brain research
- •Early discussions crystallized around imaging at cellular resolution
- 4:31 – 8:16
Why imaging the brain at cellular resolution is so hard (and why engineering matters)
The discussion breaks down the physics and mechanics behind whole-brain cellular imaging: light penetration limits force physical slicing, but ultra-thin slicing causes fragility and distortion. Dr. Mohanasankar quantifies the scale—data and section counts explode into petabytes, and even freezing introduces cracking risks.
- •Current clinical imaging (CT/MRI) is millimeter-scale; target is ~1 micron
- •Light penetration limits require slicing tissue into 5–20 micron sections
- •Handling challenges: thin sections tear/warp; transferring to slides is non-trivial
- •Freezing is needed but risks cracking due to water expansion (thermodynamics + mechanics)
- •Data scale: hundreds of GB per section → petabytes per adult brain
- 8:16 – 9:18
From petabytes to insight: stitching, visualization, and AI cell-counting
After imaging, the hardest work begins: computationally reconstructing ~10,000 sections into a coherent whole-brain map and making it usable. The Center builds tools to visualize petabyte-scale data even on a phone and tackles AI challenges like identifying and classifying billions of cells accurately.
- •Computational reconstruction: align and assemble thousands of tissue sections
- •Released second-trimester fetal brain maps (12–24 weeks) as a public resource
- •Visualization problem: viewing petabytes without needing a supercomputer
- •Built a mobile-accessible viewer that streams region-specific cellular detail
- •AI challenge: counting/classifying billions of cells with high accuracy
- 9:18 – 12:41
What brain maps unlock: foundational neuroscience plus future clinical translation
The host probes what this unprecedented data enables. Dr. Mohanasankar highlights that even basic facts (cell counts per region, densities, cell types) are still unknown, and whole-brain digital maps are prerequisites for major progress—including better diagnosis and treatment approaches over time.
- •First-time detailed visibility into human brain organization
- •Still-missing basics: region-wise cell counts, density patterns, cell-type distributions
- •Digital + computational tools are essential; manual analysis is impossible
- •Clinical progress has been bottlenecked by limited imaging detail
- •Tool-building (hardware+software) becomes a broader enabling platform
- 12:41 – 17:04
Collaboration at global scale: hospitals, 30+ international partners, and open access
The conversation shifts to how such a complex project is sustained through collaboration rather than “management.” Dr. Mohanasankar explains that a strong mission attracts top collaborators, enabling IITM to work with 15–25 hospitals and 30–35 global partners, while keeping the data public and widely accessible.
- •Complex projects require true interdisciplinary integration across ~30–35 fields
- •Collaboration model: mission attracts people; mutual reliance beats micromanagement
- •Network: ~15–20 medical institutions + 30+ international collaborators
- •Data is intentionally public—usable from high school to senior researchers
- •Few labs attempt whole-brain mapping; IITM claims unique whole-brain, multi-group coverage
- 17:04 – 24:16
HTIC vs Brain Center: near-term indigenous devices vs owning deep scientific knowledge
The host contrasts solution-driven med-tech work with long-horizon foundational research. Dr. Mohanasankar frames HTIC as addressing India’s urgent dependency on imported devices, while the Brain Center builds deep expertise and IP around scientific knowledge that historically emerged outside India.
- •HTIC focus: technologies/products for today and near future; Brain Center: ambitious foundational science
- •India’s med-device consumption ~₹1 lakh crore; ~80% imported (esp. high-tech)
- •Import dependence hurts cost, accessibility, maintenance/service, and strategic resilience (COVID lessons)
- •Brain Center approach: own knowledge, tools, and deep expertise to stay globally competitive
- •Different funding models: government seed → self-sustaining (HTIC); philanthropy + risk-capital-like support (Brain Center)
- 24:16 – 26:59
What HTIC is and how it measures success: commercialization and patient impact
Dr. Mohanasankar defines HTIC as a medical devices R&D center built explicitly for commercialization, measured through market adoption and patient reach. He outlines HTIC’s early constraints (nascent industry, busy hospitals) and its outcomes: a growing portfolio of products and large-scale patient impact in India and globally.
- •HTIC mission: translational R&D → commercialized products
- •Success metrics: industry uptake, products launched, patients impacted
- •Early ecosystem gaps: small industry base, limited hospital bandwidth for co-development
- •Current output: ~12 products on market, more in pipeline
- •Impact scale: ~1.4 crore patients so far; products present in 40–50 countries
- 26:59 – 38:42
Mobile cataract surgery unit: solving an India-specific access bottleneck
A detailed case study explains how a conversation with Dr. Badarinath reframed the blindness problem: cataract and refraction dominate, and cost isn’t the main barrier—access is. HTIC’s solution required engineering a mobile, high-quality operating theater that works in rural settings with limited infrastructure, plus policy and operational change to legalize safe delivery.
- •Cataract blindness persists despite low-cost surgery; core issue is rural access and repeated travel needs
- •Engineering requirement: mobile OT-level facility with minimal amenities (air/water/flat land)
- •Project execution: multidisciplinary build + operationalization with surgeons
- •Policy hurdle: cataract surgeries outside hospitals were banned due to infection risks from past camp models
- •Pilots and evidence led to government approvals; now operating pan-India and scaling further
- 38:42 – 43:56
Electrical engineering as ‘building’: systems thinking, risk-taking, and interdisciplinarity at IITM
The host returns to Dr. Mohanasankar’s identity as an electrical engineering professor and how EE connects to med-tech. Dr. Mohanasankar argues that ‘building’ isn’t just hardware—it’s solving problems across layers, integrating disciplines, and taking institutional risks that enable new centers like HTIC.
- •EE at IITM has a long ‘builder’ tradition across domains (systems, technologies, products)
- •Building requires layered thinking: theory → scalable prototypes → products → supply chain/maintenance
- •Modern systems blur department boundaries; disciplines are partly administrative constructs
- •His personal entry point: chip design for retinal stimulation (biomedical electronics)
- •Institutional risk-taking enabled a translational R&D center to become self-sustaining
- 43:56 – 48:49
Curriculum flexibility and ‘learning how to learn’: preparing students for fast-changing tech
The discussion broadens to education design at IITM—why rigid silos and fixed structures (like 50-minute classes) are conveniences rather than necessities. With ~50% electives, students can explore widely, and Dr. Mohanasankar emphasizes that the deeper goal is training students to continuously learn amid rapid shifts (including AI).
- •Departments/curricula are structures for administration; real problems are cross-cutting systems
- •IITM curriculum shift: nearly half courses as free electives after foundational years
- •Freedom can feel liberating or overwhelming; exploration is encouraged in and out of class
- •Core idea: content matters, but the bigger goal is mastering how to learn continuously
- •AI-era uncertainty makes adaptability and interdisciplinary collaboration essential
- 48:49 – 57:18
Patents vs publications: why IP enables investment, translation, and commercialization
Responding to a question about HTIC’s patents, Dr. Mohanasankar explains what a patent is: a legal right to control use of an invention in exchange for public disclosure. He contrasts this with publications, which disclose knowledge without granting commercial control, and explains why IP is crucial for attracting risky R&D investment and enabling real-world deployment through licensing and technology transfer.
- •Patent = legal property right to control/monetize use of an invention; disclosure is public
- •Publication shares results but does not confer commercialization rights
- •IP is often necessary to justify high-risk R&D investments (public or private)
- •Commercialization steps: where to file (India/US/EU), costs, maintenance, licensing models
- •IITM’s tech transfer (ICSR/TTO) works to commercialize IP and assess real market value
- 57:18 – 1:22:52
Students as the research engine: startups, shifting faculty dynamics, and lab opportunities
The closing segment focuses on how student involvement has transformed IITM: most papers and patents are student-driven, and entrepreneurship has become normal. Dr. Mohanasankar describes how faculty-student relationships have shifted toward collaboration, and why labs like HTIC/Brain Center offer rare freedom to build, though international mix on-campus is still thinner than in many Western labs.
- •Students power the outputs: most papers/patents include student contributors
- •India’s academic entrepreneurship wave is ~15–20 years old and accelerating into deep tech
- •Campus culture shift: experimenting, building, failing, learning is now the norm
- •Faculty-student dynamics: students are co-builders; feedback loops are faster; faculty learn from students
- •Why join such labs: high-quality work, freedom, industry/startup pathways; main ‘con’ is thinner on-site international diversity (improving over time)
