Paul Allen: Piece of Mind

The Economist’s “The world in 2009” issue included an interesting article by Paul Allen, co-founder of the Allen Institute for Brain Science, entitled Piece of Mind:

The mystery of how the brain works is the most compelling question in science. We can discover new planets around distant stars and find water on Mars, but over 95% of the workings of the brain remain unexplored and unexplained.

So six years ago I brought together a group of leading neuroscientists to find the basis for an approach that could advance the entire field of brain research. It was clear there needed to be a comprehensive database of information on where genes are turned on (or expressed) in the mouse brain—a map, or atlas, of the brain’s frontiers that would provide more encyclopedic information than any individual lab could afford to generate.

It seemed achievable. With the help of several noted researchers, I founded the Allen Institute for Brain Science in 2003 to undertake this project. Three years later, the institute had completed an atlas of gene expression in the mouse brain. The scientists used state-of-the-art technology to dissect a mouse brain, photographed it sliver section by section, then reassembled it in a computer database that would allow easy access. But it was the speed at which the project was accomplished and what they did with it afterwards that changed the game.

They released it to the public. Over the internet. Free.

The Allen Institute in Seattle is one of Aperio's largest customers and an ongoing source of good feedback and product ideas.  We're proud to help them with this important work.