allen institute

What if the next breakthrough for human health, climate resilience, or clean energy isn’t waiting to be found in nature, but is waiting to be designed? Today, we’re launching AI BioDesign, a bold endeavor to explore the uncharted design space of life.

Did you make an #OpenScience tool using Brain Map? Submit it to our community tools page! Tools should use Brain Map resources, extend the use of data, provide new ways to access and analyze data, or support educational use. Learn more and submit: https://bit.ly/4zTIYb9

In 2017, the Allen Institute announced the addition of data from live human brain cells to the Allen Cell Types Database. Today, the database includes electrophysiological, morphological, and transcriptomic data measured from human and mouse cells, as well as models simulating cell activity.

Call for papers: NeuroAI 2.0 at AAAI 2027! The 2nd workshop on Neuro for AI & AI for Neuro comes to Montreal, Feb 22-23, 2027 to discuss context-dependent learning, continual learning, and what brains can teach foundation models about adapting. Papers due Nov 20: https://bit.ly/4kaKGAf

Congratulations to Allen Institute CFO Sarah Norris Hall, named one of Puget Sound Business Journal's Women of Influence! The honor recognizes regional leaders who drive results, give back to the community, and mentor others. https://bit.ly/4ii6Luk

Imagine if every cell division could leave a timestamped barcode in the genome. That’s DNA Typewriter, which just traced the largest cell family tree to date. Laura Tran, PhD reports for The Scientist: https://bit.ly/3WnoPvz

Allen Institute scientists took 3rd place in the 2026 Nikon Small World Photomicrography Competition! Congratulations to Kaelin Wulf and Rachel Flannery of the Neural Dynamics accelerator, who captured these neurons in an expanded mouse brain. https://bit.ly/3WE9EhD

Most neurons are excitatory, but some do the opposite and dampen the activity of other neurons. In this visualization by our Electron Microscopy team, an axon (red) sneaks its way in between a satellite microglia (blue) and an inhibitory neuron (gray).

join us at the #SfN26 BIA toolmakers showcase/ The Showcase brings together BRAIN Initiative-funded toolmakers to share resources that can accelerate discovery, spark new ideas, and move neuroscience forward. register/ https://bit.ly/4yxTLqm

Sue Kaech, EVP and Director of Immunology at the Allen Institute, has been elected to the National Academy of Medicine for achievements in immunology. Her discoveries explain how immune memory forms and how cancer can disable it. Congratulations, @tcellogic.bsky.social! https://bit.ly/4k4TAPN

AI neurons run on simple math. Real neurons are far weirder. A new open dataset fitted 1,000+ PyTorch-ready neuron models to real mouse and human cells. Does brain-like diversity make AI better? It's still an open question, but now it's testable. https://bit.ly/3WfGAwR

Happy #FluorescenceFriday! Our #CellLineOfTheWeek is TRF2 - illuminating telomeres! 🧫✨ Our stem cell lines and plasmids are openly available to power the next breakthrough. 📦 @coriellinstitute.bsky.social and @addgene.bsky.social

#CellBio community, this one is for you! Applications are open for the #LakeConference on Modeling Life from Cells to Tissues! 📆 Mar. 21-25, 2027 📍 Lake Thun, Switzerland 🔬 All career stages welcomed Apply to attend by 12/10: https://bit.ly/4ANhchR

How can we understand the neural circuits that shape behavior? Join us at #SfN26 for a Neural Dynamics satellite workshop to explore open data and tools for neuropixels recordings, neuron reconstructions, and multimodal analysis. register/ https://bit.ly/3Uu0p31

amber waves of brain/ When we think of waves, our minds might travel to the tranquility of ocean beaches. But brains also pulse with wave cycles. This video illustrates the neural activity of a mouse brain. Learn more in this #SciShots: https://bit.ly/47lkyLv

Brain donation is not as simple as becoming an organ donor. From enrollment to collection, it’s a delicate and complex process. But the impact can be profound with some brains still being studied 30+ years after donation. https://alleninstitute.org/news/so-you-want-to-donate-your-brain-to-science/

"An exciting opportunity to make fundamental discoveries." Applications for the Shanahan Foundation Fellowship at the Interface of Data and Neuroscience are now open! Experience in #neuroscience is not needed. Apply by Dec. 1: https://bit.ly/4h762LH

Applications are open for the Studio D3 Fellowship at the Allen Institute! This 3-year fellowship empowers recent PhDs with quantitative backgrounds to apply computational and theoretical approaches to some of biology's most complex challenges. Apply by Dec. 1: https://bit.ly/4rgbTmD

Great science doesn't happen alone. More than 160 early-career researchers gathered at the first Stem Cell & Developmental Biology Early Career Symposium to share research, build community, and learn skills that matter beyond the lab. https://bit.ly/3TyktRx

MapMyCells is one of our most popular #OpenScience tools and for good reason! Scientists anywhere can discover what cell types their transcriptomics and spatial data corresponds with by comparing their data to massive, high-quality reference datasets. 🔗 https://bit.ly/4uZDDgm

Happy #FluorescenceFriday! Our #CellLineOfTheWeek is a 3-for-1 and fluoresces fibrillarin, nucleophosmin, and dCas9-KRAB! 🦀🧫 Our cell lines & plasmids are openly available to accelerate scientific discovery. 📦 @coriellinstitute.bsky.social and @addgene.bsky.social

The Cell Type Knowledge Explorer allows anyone to explore the diversity and complexity of the mouse, human, and non-human primate brain. Explore this free and open resource at: https://bit.ly/4AVqs3m #BICCN #studyBRAIN

Get up close with brain cells with the browser-based MICrONS Explorer: https://bit.ly/3Jh0fnC This OpenScience data portal contains connectivity and functional imaging data including #ElectronMicroscopy based reconstructions of cortical circuitry from the mouse visual cortex.

#openscience in action/ Using the Allen Brain Cell Atlas, Sora Mitamura is uncovering new insights into the cellular organization and gene expression patterns of the ventral striatum through computational analysis. Explore the ABC Atlas: brain-map.org/bkp/explore/

Have you used our #OpenScience resources in your research or classroom? We want to highlight you! Share your story at https://bit.ly/4zmbJ01

🎙️Next week, we drop a special live recording from the @alleninstitute.org! We invited two guests to discuss realities they face as early career researchers. Dr. Crystal Rogers (@rogerslabucd.bsky.social): https://bit.ly/46Lny3u Dr. Ariel Waisman (@waisman-ar.bsky.social): https://bit.ly/4hNKlBS

Glia gang, this is for you! In this video by our #ElectronMicroscopy team, shows a pyramidal neuron (PyC) surrounded by 8 glia brain cells – 5 microglia (MG) and 3 oligodendrocyte progenitor cells (OPC). 🧠📈 http://microns-explorer.org

Applications are open for the #LakeConference on Modeling Life from Cells to Tissues – co-hosted with Circuit Neuroscience Basel. 📆 March 21-25, 2027 📍 Seattle, USA 🧠 All career stages welcomed. Apply to attend by December 10: https://lakeconferences.org/conf/8334d9bf-9bbd-488a-8ffc-2232ac1a3545

Congratulations to Karl Deisseroth, who sits on our Brain Science Scientific Advisory Council! Alongside Peter Hegemann and Georg Nagel, Karl Deisseroth received the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for discoveries concerning light-gated ion channels and optogenetics.

Spend less time processing cell images with the Allen Cell Structure Segmenter. This #OpenScience python-based toolkit helps #cellscience researchers navigate complex images by automatically capturing the boundaries of structures. Access at: https://lnkd.in/gpWA7xWH

Happy #FluorescenceFriday! Our #CellLineOfTheWeek is PCNA - illuminating a protein involved in DNA replication and repair! Our cell lines & plasmids are openly available to accelerate scientific discovery: https://bit.ly/3MRCl60 📦 @coriellinstitute.bsky.social and @addgene.bsky.social

#openscience in action/ Using the Allen Brain Cell Atlas, Sora Mitamur is uncovering new insights into the cellular organization and gene expression patterns of the ventral striatum through computational analysis. Explore the ABC Atlas: https://brain-map.org/bkp/explore/abc-atlas

"For me, biology is ultimately a design challenge." Sanjay Srivatsan, principal investigator of AI BioDesign, says new accelerator will use AI to understand biological patterns and use those patterns to find solutions to biological problems. Inside Precision Medicine reports: https://bit.ly/4yoOmm9

How does a small pool of stem cells build a brain with hundreds of cell types, each in the right place? A new Nature paper from UCSF and the Allen Institute follows the forebrain's family tree to find out. Read the paper in Nature: https://go.nature.com/4hzn31v

"An exciting opportunity to make fundamental discoveries." Applications for the Shanahan Foundation Fellowship at the Interface of Data and Neuroscience are now open! Experience in #neuroscience is not needed. Apply by Dec. 1: https://bit.ly/4h762LH

Applications are open for the Studio D3 Fellowship at the Allen Institute! This 3-year fellowship empowers recent PhDs with quantitative backgrounds to apply computational and theoretical approaches to biology's most complex challenges. Apply by 12/1 alleninstitute.org/studio-d3/fe...

"This is the best time in the history of humanity." AI BioDesign co-director Sanjay Srivatsan (@fredhutch) on why, via @KING5Seattle: AI is letting scientists design proteins nature never made, opening new paths to cancer therapies and vaccines. https://bit.ly/4yXZYfR

Twenty years ago, on this day in 2006, Allen Institute for Brain Science announced the completion of our inaugural project: a web-based, 3D map of gene expression in the mouse brain providing scientists with a level of data previously not available. #openscience

SON is our cell line of the week! SON and its associated plasmid illuminates nuclear speckles, a real science word for proteins in the nucleus involved in gene expression. Thanks to @coriellinstitute.bsky.social and @addgene.bsky.social for helping us make our cell lines and plasmids accessible.