Neuroscience is a complex subject, but Prabahan Chakraborty, a graduate student from National Centre for Biological Sciences in Bengaluru, has an entertaining and simple method to get his message across: musical theatre. The 28-year-old uses this art form to help people understand his research.
For this unique fusion of art and science, Mr. Chakraborty won the EURAXESS Science Slam India competition held in the city recently. The contest — organised in collaboration with the embassy of France, Alliance Francaise Bengaluru, India Bioscience, Global Innovation and Technology Alliance and Indo-German Science and Technology Centre — offers a platform for young researchers to showcase their work outside their labs in a way that can be easily understood by everyone. He competed with five other researchers from across the country in the finals.
As part of his PhD, Mr. Chakraborty has been researching the effects of stress on the brain. “My thesis is on what happens to the amygdala and hippocampus when a person is stressed. My research shows that during times of stress, the amygdala, which regulates anxiety and fear, becomes stronger. The hippocampus, which processes and stores short-term memory, becomes weaker. As a result, a person suffers from mental health issues, including depression and memory impairment. But, communicating this to everyone is not that easy,” he said
When he got to know about the contest, he saw a perfect opportunity to combine two of his passions. “It is a challenge to communicate science in a fun way. But, theatre is an effective tool. My presentation on stress and ways to combat it was in the form of multiple songs and enactments,” he said.
He enacted a scene involving a patient suffering with clinical depression caused due to stress. As he told the audience about his condition, his anxieties and memory loss, he broke into a song to explain what was happening in his brain — in the amygdala and hippocampus. He then went back to dialogue form to talk about solutions. "I presented the topic in a musicial theatre format, which combines words, music and movement," he said.
As part of winning the contest, Mr. Chakraborty will be going on a trip to Europe, where he will interact with other researchers in top institutes.
