Allen Institute

06/04/2026

Our new Brain Health accelerator was featured on NPR's Short Wave. Tune in to hear why we are more optimistic than ever that brain disease therapeutics are within reach.

🔗 https://www.npr.org/2026/06/03/nx-s1-5837620/brain-health-accelerator-gene-therapy-alzheimer

06/03/2026

More than two decades ago, Jeff Carroll learned he carries the gene for Huntington's disease, the same disease that took his mother. Instead of stepping back, he stepped toward it, asking the doctor who delivered the news for a job.

Today, Jeff is part of our new Brain Health Accelerator: a global effort to accelerate brain disease research and expedite genetic therapies for diseases like Huntington's, Parkinson's, Alzheimer's, ALS, and Lewy Body Disease.

Huntington's, with its single, well-defined genetic cause, may light the path for tackling far more complex brain diseases. And for Jeff, the science is personal.

We're proud to have him on the team. Read his story, beautifully told by Carolyn Johnson in The Washington Post:
https://www.washingtonpost.com/science/2026/06/02/this-scientist-learned-he-has-devastating-brain-disease-he-set-out-cure-it

06/03/2026

Why don't we have cures for Alzheimer's? Or ALS? Or Parkinson's? Simply put, it's because we don't fully understand what drives brain diseases.

The time is right for a new approach, and we have a plan.

Meet accelerator.

06/02/2026

One in three people worldwide are affected by neurological conditions. It’s time to take a different approach to brain disease research.

Together with partners like the Bezos family, Amazon Web Services, EverythingALS, and a global network of collaborators, we are launching the Brain Health accelerator, a global research collaboration designed to accelerate our understanding of the human brain and fast-track new precision cell- and circuit-based genetic therapies for neurodegenerative diseases and other disorders.

06/02/2026

Brain disease is tragic, but it doesn’t have to be. It’s time for a new approach to brain disease research.

That’s why we are launching the Brain Health accelerator.

In partnership and with the Bezos family, Amazon Web Services, EverythingALS and a global network of collaborators, aims to understand brain diseases at the cell and circuit level starting with ALS, Parkinson’s, Huntington’s, Alzheimer’s, and Lewy Body Dementia.

What makes the Brain Health accelerator different?

🧠 Human-first and first in human
⚡️Focused on cells and circuits
🔬Cross-disease and cross-modality
🤖 Built for AI, powered by AWS
🤝 Radically open

This work builds on foundational investments from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) BRAIN Initiative and the National Institute on Aging - NIH.

06/02/2026

introducing/ – a new science accelerator. This global network of partners and collaborators is working to speed human brain research and fast-track new therapies for neurological conditions.

Tune in to the live stream at 11:15am (Pacific):

One in three people worldwide are affected by neurological conditi...

06/01/2026

Every thought, movement, and memory emerges from patterns of electrical activity surging through billions of neurons. To decode this complex language, researchers must pinpoint and manipulate the behavior of thousands of individual neurons to see the role they play in the brain. Getting this data is delicate and difficult.

A global team of engineers and scientists overcame this challenge by combines optical stimulation with a highly sensitive recording probe into one tool: Neuropixels Opto. Shared today in Nature Methods, this breakthrough tool allows research to measure, record, and manipulate brain cells.

05/21/2026

With recent advances in computing power, enhanced microscopy, better neuron-tracing tools, and artificial intelligence, scientists now believe it’s a matter of when, not if, they can emulate a human brain in a computer.

05/19/2026

Pediatric IBD is more aggressive, harder to treat, and growing in prevalence.

Together with Seattle Children's, we're applying deep immune profiling to decode what is happening and identify treatments.

05/19/2026

What is a human brain cell but not a neuron? It sounds like a riddle, but our brains are full of other, lesser-known cells besides the textbook-famous electrical-signal-conducting neurons.

Some of these cells, known collectively as glial cells, seem to be just as complicated as neurons but because they don’t send signals in the same way, are even harder to study in the lab.

Shown above in a microscopy image, a delicate type of brain cell known as an astrocyte, named for their star-like shape. Allen Institute scientists study how the types of brain cells, including astrocyte types, varies across mammals. This particular human astrocyte appears to be a rare type known as a varicose projection astrocyte, so-called because it makes contact with blood vessels in the brain. This kind of astrocyte has only been found in the brains of humans and other apes.