The Allen Institute for Brain Science is a research organization dedicated to understanding the brain and its diseases. Founded in 2003 by Microsoft co-founder Paul G. Allen, the institute is headquartered in Seattle, Washington.
The mission of the Allen Institute for Brain Science is to accelerate progress toward a comprehensive understanding of how the human brain works and what goes wrong when disease or injury occurs. To this end, it has created a number of programs that bring together scientists from around the world into one unified effort to unlock mysteries about our most complex organ—the brain.
This unified effort includes two signature collections: an atlas of gene expression (Gene Expression Atlas) and an interactive digital mouse brain atlas (MouseBrainAtlas). The Gene Expression Atlas collects genes involved in common neurological disorders like Alzheimer’s Disease, Parkinson’s Disease, Autism Spectrum Disorder as well as healthy development so researchers can better understand these conditions. Similarly, MouseBrainAtlas provides access to digital images that allow researchers to investigate regions of mouse brains linked with specific neural processes and functions such as learning, memory formation, motor control etc., aiding them in furthering their knowledge on how these areas relate to each other within a single organism’s nervous system.
In addition to these signature projects led by the institute itself are numerous collaborations with leading universities around the world who have partnered up with AIBS for ongoing research initiatives involving applications ranging from natural language processing for medical diagnosis; 3D modeling approaches for imaging data analysis; machine learning methods for improved drug discovery; deep learning algorithms applied towards neuroimaging studies; genetic engineering techniques used in stem cell regeneration & tissue engineering among many others . By joining forces with some of today’s best minds across all disciplines related to neuroscience , AIBS has become one stop shop where groundbreaking discoveries are made every day hopefully helping us get closer towards unlocking secrets surrounding our most important organ – The Human Brain!