We have launched a major global scientific research initiative, the Brain Health accelerator (Brain Health)—in collaboration with some 30 organizations and institutions—to understand the drivers of brain disease at the level of cells and the circuits they form. Its goal is to identify the precise cell types and circuits that are affected by disease and better understand how these diseases progress in the human brain, and with that knowledge, accelerate the development of genetic therapies that home in on their targets with molecular precision and rescue and protect cells that are vulnerable.
New look. Same mission. Accelerate science for a healthier world.
Designing better weapons to fight prostate cancer. New study unlocks key insights that could help develop next-generation immunotherapies
Virtual brain simulation built by data. Powered by partnership. In a global collaboration, researchers from the Allen Institute and Japan’s University of Electro-Communications used Supercomputer Fugaku to simulate the entire mouse cortex and its nearly 10 million neurons, 26 billion synapses, and 86 brain regions. This is one of the most detailed virtual brain simulations ever created, built on a decade of open neuroscience data and run on one of the world’s fastest supercomputers. In this video by the research team, only 1% of neurons are shown for clarity. Now, scientists can virtually explore how diseases like Alzheimer’s and epilepsy unfold in the brain.
AI is revealing new cellular neighborhoods in the brain. CellTransformer, a new AI tool developed with University of California, San Francisco to explore massive cellular datasets, identified 1,300 regions/subregions of the brain including many subregions that were previously unknown to scientists. The impact of this new tool could go beyond analyzing the brain’s complexity and could be applied to other organs including cancerous tissues.
For two weeks in July, students from 11 high schools across Seattle made the Allen Institute their scientific home. They were part of the inaugural class of Open Science Quest, a two-week intensive offering education, training, and mentorship from the Institute’s Education and Engagement team and scientists.
ALS is a cruel disease. It robs the body of its ability to control itself—the ability to move, the ability to communicate. While there are currently no effective treatments to reverse its debilitating symptoms, Allen Institute researchers have opened a window of hope. For the first time ever, scientists have developed a precise genetic toolkit that can target the exact nerve cells destroyed by the disease and potentially deliver therapies where they are needed most—a discovery that could dramatically speed up the quest for a cure. The findings were recently published in the journal Cell Reports.
A new era of cellular biology. Recently we launched CellScapes. The mission – to uncover the foundational principles of how cells behave collectively and change states in health and disease. https://alleninstitute.org/news/allen-institute-launches-cellscapes-initiative-to-transform-our-understanding-of-how-human-cells-build-tissues-and-organs/
What is consciousness? 🧠 ✨ A landmark 7-year study suggests it may be related to sensory processing and perception. The findings could impact how we think about measuring hashtag#consciousness and diagnosing comas or vegetative states.
How does the brain work? Scientists are closer to the answer with the largest wiring diagram and functional map of a mammalian brain to date. A global team of more than 150 researchers combined live brain imaging recordings with high-resolution microscopy and artificial intelligence to offer never-before-seen insights into the function and organization of the brain’s vision system. These efforts – towards understanding how the brain works and how it is organized – can lead to improved treatments and therapies for brain diseases and disorders.
