Entryway to the Allen Institute building in Seattle, Washington
The Allen Institute is a non-profit, bioscience research institute located in Seattle. It was founded by billionaire philanthropist Paul G. Allen in 2003. The Allen Institute conducts large-scale basic science research studying the brain, cells and immune system in effort to accelerate science and disease research. The organization practices open science, in that they make all their data and resources publicly available for researchers to access.[1][2]
Scientific Focus
The Allen Institute's research is focused on neuroscience, through the Allen Institute for Brain Science, founded in 2003, Allen Institute for Neural Dynamics, founded in 2021; cell biology, through the Allen Institute for Cell Science, founded in 2014;[3] broad areas of bioscience and medical research, through The Paul G. Allen Frontiers Group, founded in 2016;[4] and human immunology, through the Allen Institute for Immunology, founded in 2018.[5] The Paul G. Allen Frontiers Group recommends research funding to scientific investigators outside the Allen Institute, while the other three divisions conduct research in-house.
Allen Institute for Brain Science
The Allen Institute for Brain Science launched with an initial single scientific project, the Allen Mouse Brain Atlas,[6] which aimed to map gene expression across the entire mouse brain. The publication describing that project, published in 2007, has been cited more than 1,800 times.[7] The Allen Institute for Brain Science has since generated several other large-scale neuroscience projects, focusing on both the mouse and human brains in health and disease. Its most recent open-source projects focus on defining brain cell types in the healthy mouse[8] and human[9] brains through multimodal characterization of neurons and other brain cells, including their connectivity, electrophysiology, morphology and transcriptomic profiles; and on the cellular level of activity in the mouse visual cortex[10] through the Allen Brain Observatory. In 2020, the National Institutes of Health awarded $40.5 million to launch a new research center headquartered at the Allen Institute focused on brain cell types in Alzheimer's disease.[11]
Allen Institute for Cell Science
The Allen Institute for Cell Science was modeled on the Allen Institute for Brain Science and was launched to capture a global view of human cells, developing gene-edited, fluorescently tagged human induced pluripotent stem cells[12] that form the backbone of an openly available library of digital microscopy images[13] and computational models[14] to predict cellular organization. The tagged cell lines are available for others in the scientific community to use,[15] and have been used in research on kidney disease[16] and cardiomyocyte function,[17] among others. Ongoing projects at the institute include studies of cardiomyocyte differentiation[18] and mitosis.[19] Cell biology resources from the institute have been used in high school and college biology education, including at Washington State University.[20]
The Paul G. Allen Frontiers Group
The Paul G. Allen Frontiers Group recommends research funding from the Paul G. Allen Family Foundation to support bioscience and biomedical research.[21] Projects supported by Frontiers Group awards include research on regeneration,[22]gene drives,[23] and human brain evolution,[24] among many others. The Frontiers Group directs research support through two primary award mechanisms: Allen Distinguished Investigator awards, which are typically three-year, $1.5 million awards given to one or a small set of researchers, and Allen Discovery Center awards, which are larger grants given to launch new research centers.[21] To date, four Allen Discovery Centers have been launched.[24][21]
The Allen Institute for Neural Dynamics was launched in November 2021, with a mission to study the neural circuits that support complex behavior.[26] The institute is led by executive vice president Karel Svoboda (scientist).
Scientific approach
The Allen Institute employs three core principles that distinguish it from traditional academic laboratory and industry organization settings. Their large-scale, data-rich "big science" projects aim to answer fundamental questions of biology. Cross-functional groups of employees with differing specialties work together in a collaborative "team science" environment. All data and resources generated within the Institute are made publicly available as part of their "open science" model. Notable public resources include the Allen Mouse Brain and Human Brain Atlases.[1][2]
Allen Institute for Brain Science researchers collaborated with a research team from the University of Szeged to identify and name a newly discovered type of human neuron, the rosehip neuron, which is not found in mice.[28] The function of the rosehip neuron is as yet unclear.
In 2020, Allen Institute for Brain Science researchers reported the first electrical recordings from human von Economo neurons.[29]
Collaborations
The Allen Institute for Brain Science is part of the MICrONS program, which is funded by IARPA. The research collaboration aims to map all the synapses in one cubic millimeter of the mouse brain,[30] the largest such connectomics project to date.[31]
The Allen Institute for Brain Science hosts the BRAIN Initiative Cell Census Network, or BICCN, web data portal. This collaborative effort, funded by the National Institutes of Health, aims to create comprehensive catalogs of brain cell types from mouse, human and monkeys.[32]
To help facilitate their collaborative team science approach, the six-story building was designed around a central atrium, alternating laboratories with traditional and flexible meeting spaces throughout.[37] The building also includes an auditorium were multiple public events and symposia are held.
The location of the Allen Institute was home to the historic McKay Ford and Pacific auto dealer, built in the early 1920s.[38] During construction the 2,760 piece terra cotta façade was removed and reinstalled upon completion of the building.[39] It houses a craft beer hall with mini golf and other games.[40]
Jaume Plensa's sculpture Mirall was installed outside the building in October 2015.[41][42] The art work features two large figures, each about 12 feet tall (3.6 metres).
