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May 21, 2010
The Great Brain
While in Seattle this week, I visited the Allen Institute for Brain Science, co-founded with a $100 million donation of seed money by Paul Allen in 2003. I have a real interest in the work of the Institute because my mother has suffered from manic depression for forty years and my father-in-law has early stage Alzheimer’s Disease. By sheer coincidence, my visit coincided with the completion of the examination of the first human brain, a gene expression map divided into 760 anatomical areas, cataloguing genes that are expressed (for you non-science types like me—that means turned on). The goal is a research tool, the Allen Human Brain Atlas, combining information about gene activity with anatomic knowledge, a genome-wide map, facilitating development of treatments for brain diseases and disorders, to be completed by 2013.
Walking through the doors of the Institute, one could easily mistake it for another corporate office. But then the chief operating officer, Elaine Jones, showed me the scientific kingdom beyond. Young researchers (135 people at this facility, 85% of whom are researchers) are hard at work with their gloved hands in refrigeration units, taking thin slices of mouse brain (about the size of a peanut) and diseased human brain, for placement onto slides. The slides are collected for insertion into robots that are able to process 4,000 slides a week, which are then photographed and mapped into three dimensional views, “in-situ hybridization that indicates where genes are turned on in specific areas.” The massive computing power of the Institute then compiles data and serves it out on the Web. A future project will include the creation of a “Connectome,” illustrating where the circuits are within the brain – not just where genes are expressed. Note that human and mouse brains share 90 percent of their genes.
The Institute has made available through www.brain-map.org the Allen Mouse Brain Atlas, the Allen Developing Mouse Brain Atlas and Allen Spinal Cord Atlas. As Ms. Jones said yesterday, “We give away all of the science for free. It is a total open-source approach.” Or as Paul Allen said, “Scientific research has long been a solitary endeavor…Findings are protected so that discovery credit can be clearly defined and awarded…However the Human Genome Project demonstrated a different path; multiple teams working collaboratively towards a common goal. I believe a real acceleration in progress and innovation comes from the open sharing of ideas.” Twenty thousand unique users from around the world access the data each month.
What’s been discovered thus far?
1) At least 80 percent of genes are turned on in the brain and only a few of these are expressed in a single area.
2) New potential risk factors for multiple sclerosis have been identified.
3) There are new subdivisions of known brain structures and new molecular markers of specific cell types
Where to from here? The Institute is attracting money from government (National Institutes of Health) and from the private sector (both foundations and corporations) that are funding specific projects. A good example is work on the spinal cord, funded by Wyeth Research, Pemco Insurance, National Multiple Sclerosis Society, the ALS Association and individual donors. Paralyzed veterans from Iraq and Afghanistan may well benefit from knowledge of specific genes that control different functions in the spinal cord.
I was very moved by the entrepreneurial attitude and the Allen team’s determination to succeed. The visit also reinforced the effectiveness of an ‘open-source’ approach to sharing information and NGO-private-public partnership to address societal challenges.
Posted by Edelman at May 21, 2010 9:20 AM |
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Comments
That is tremendous and interesting work, and clearly what the story line of medical advancement and innovation in the 21st century will be about.
Posted by: Steve Shannon at May 21, 2010 11:41 AM