The Allen Institute,\u00a0together with partner\u00a0organizations,\u00a0today launched the\u00a0Brain Health accelerator:\u00a0an ambitious\u00a0global research initiative\u00a0seeking\u00a0to\u00a0identify the\u00a0specific\u00a0brain\u00a0cells and circuits\u00a0affected\u00a0in\u00a0neurodegenerative disease\u00a0and\u00a0other\u00a0brain\u00a0disorders\u00a0and use that knowledge\u00a0to\u00a0accelerate the\u00a0development of\u00a0new treatments.\u00a0<\/p>\n
One\u00a0in\u00a0three\u00a0people worldwide suffer from\u00a0neurological\u00a0or brain\u00a0conditions;\u00a0that’s\u00a0more than\u00a03 billion individuals.\u00a057 million\u00a0people\u00a0live with\u00a0a neurodegenerative\u00a0disease\u00a0and there are few\u00a0effective treatments.\u00a0<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Brain Health accelerator is a bold and exciting global research initiative to accelerate our understanding and development of therapies for the most pressing brain diseases. It builds on two decades of foundational discoveries at the Allen Institute and brings together academia, industry, nonprofit, and technology partners around the shared goal of tackling one of the greatest public health challenges of our time. I am incredibly excited by the potential of Brain Health to transform neuroscience and advance human health for all.”\u00a0<\/p>\n
\n
<\/p>\n
Rui Costa, President and CEO, Allen Institute<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
The Brain Health accelerator is launching with collaboration and partnership from many organizations across science, technology, philanthropy, and disease advocacy. The total commitment to-date is $400M. This includes $200M from the Allen Institute, whose primary supporter is the Fund for Science and Technology; $100M from the Bezos family; and an additional $100M from AWS, NIH, and EverythingALS.\u00a0<\/p>\n
“Brain disease represents one of the great health challenges of our time,” said Mike Bezos, Co-Founder and Chair of\u00a0The Bezos Family Foundation,\u00a0leading this philanthropic effort through a personal gift from the family. “The Allen Institute’s Brain Health accelerator brings together the scale, scientific ambition, and global collaboration needed to advance our understanding of neurodegeneration. We are excited to support this effort designed to generate, and share, foundational knowledge that can help scientists pursue new answers-and, ultimately, new approaches to care and potential cures for people and families affected by Lewy\u00a0body, Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s, Huntington’s, ALS, and other brain diseases.”\u00a0<\/p>\n
Brain Health\u00a0also\u00a0builds\u00a0on foundational investments from the\u00a0National Institutes of Health\u00a0(NIH)\u00a0BRAIN initiative\u00a0and the\u00a0National Institute on Aging (NIA)\u00a0to support\u00a0vital\u00a0brain research and develop\u00a0cutting-edge\u00a0technologies\u00a0and\u00a0data resources.\u00a0<\/p>\n
What makes Brain Health\u00a0different\u00a0<\/p>\n
A\u00a0deeply\u00a0collaborative\u00a0model for brain disease research:\u00a0Brain Health\u00a0will create\u00a0a new,\u00a0hyper collaborative\u00a0model for brain disease research\u00a0by bringing together foundational research, computational modeling, and therapeutic development into one cohesive\u00a0program\u00a0to\u00a0accelerate\u00a0progress for human health.\u00a0<\/p>\n
“The\u00a0challenge is\u00a0so\u00a0daunting,\u00a0with\u00a0the most complex organ in the body and\u00a0enormous\u00a0variation across the\u00a0human population, that\u00a0we need a\u00a0cross-disciplinary,\u00a0integrative approach\u00a0to\u00a0surface\u00a0a deep\u00a0‘ground truth’\u00a0understanding of what happens to our brains\u00a0as diseases\u00a0progress,” says\u00a0Ed\u00a0Lein, Executive Vice President and Director of Brain Health.\u00a0“Brain Health will\u00a0bring\u00a0together\u00a0the most cutting-edge technologies\u00a0applied at scale\u00a0across multiple diseases, advanced AI-based data modeling,\u00a0and a\u00a0radically\u00a0open science approach\u00a0aimed at\u00a0putting those data in the hands of the community and\u00a0developing therapeutics driven by specificity\u00a0for safe and effective treatment.”\u00a0<\/p>\n
Focus on cells and\u00a0circuits:\u00a0Brain Health will\u00a0focus on the cells and functional circuits\u00a0affected\u00a0in\u00a0disease.\u00a0A\u00a0revolutionary\u00a0set of\u00a0technologies\u00a0known as\u00a0single cell genomics\u00a0has\u00a0created a foundational understanding of the\u00a0extraordinary\u00a0diversity\u00a0of\u00a0cell\u00a0types that make up the brain, an accomplishment\u00a0similar to\u00a0the Human Genome Project.\u00a0These technologies now let researchers\u00a0identify\u00a0the precise types of cells-and the circuits they form-that are\u00a0vulnerable\u00a0to\u00a0disease.\u00a0This understanding\u00a0provides a\u00a0new\u00a0paradigm\u00a0to intervene by targeting those affected cells and circuits\u00a0rather than\u00a0molecules or proteins\u00a0in a general\u00a0way.\u00a0“This new approach will lead to\u00a0precision genetic therapies\u00a0that are more effective with fewer unwanted side effects,”\u00a0said Lein.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Human-first, first-in-human:\u00a0Brain Health will prioritize research using healthy and diseased human brain tissue from the outset. This human-first strategy aims to generate findings that are more directly relevant to human disease and more rapidly translatable into therapies.\u00a0<\/p>\n
“We need to understand the cells and circuits in order to map the human brain and how it’s built,” said\u00a0Dirk Keene, professor of pathology\u00a0at the\u00a0University of California San Diego School of Medicine\u00a0and leader of\u00a0Brain Health’s\u00a0tissue\u00a0coordinating\u00a0center responsible for sourcing human brain\u00a0samples\u00a0critical\u00a0to\u00a0the\u00a0research.\u00a0“The only way we can ever really understand how the brain functions\u00a0is\u00a0to understand how it’s connected\u00a0and how those networks are disrupted by disease.”\u00a0<\/p>\n
Reshaping a field:\u00a0Strength through\u00a0collaboration\u00a0<\/p>\n
This global collaboration\u00a0will unite researchers across disease areas to study both the distinct and shared mechanisms underlying neurodegeneration.\u00a0“It’s a false dichotomy to split the diseases apart entirely because they so often co-occur, and we need to understand what happens when they\u00a0do,”\u00a0said Lein.\u00a0By studying\u00a0multiple diseases\u00a0together\u00a0researchers\u00a0can\u00a0find\u00a0both\u00a0distinct and\u00a0shared cellular, molecular,\u00a0and circuit\u00a0level mechanisms.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Research will\u00a0initially focus on\u00a0Alzheimer’s,\u00a0Parkinson’s, Lewy body dementia, Huntington’s\u00a0disease, and\u00a0amyotrophic lateral sclerosis\u00a0(ALS)\u00a0to create a\u00a0more\u00a0holistic,\u00a0comprehensive understanding of neurodegeneration. In the\u00a0future, Brain Health\u00a0may\u00a0expand its\u00a0scope\u00a0to include\u00a0epilepsies, brain tumors, and\u00a0neurodevelopmental and\u00a0neuropsychiatric\u00a0disorders.\u00a0<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Brain Health accelerator is an important milestone for neurodegenerative disease. Many neurodegenerative diseases share similar biology, and research on ALS may unlock important discoveries for Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s, and frontotemporal dementia. We’re proud to partner with the Allen Institute and we look forward to the day when ALS is curable.”\u00a0<\/p>\n
\n
<\/p>\n
Indu Navar, Founder and CEO of EverythingALS<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Brain\u00a0Health will also\u00a0bring\u00a0together\u00a0neuroscientists, technologists,\u00a0and\u00a0computational\/AI experts\u00a0under\u00a0a single global, collaborative\u00a0research program\u00a0to create an\u00a0end-to-end,\u00a0discovery-to-therapy pipeline\u00a0designed to accelerate understanding and progress in treating brain disease.\u00a0<\/p>\n
For more than 20 years, the Allen Institute has championed\u00a0open science\u00a0by sharing data, tools, and discoveries openly with the global scientific community. Brain Health extends that commitment\u00a0with a radically open and collaborative approach that will\u00a0accelerate research\u00a0efforts\u00a0and fuel the scale needed to tackle such a complex challenge-driving science\u00a0further\u00a0and faster than any one institution could alone.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Why now? A technological tipping point\u00a0<\/p>\n
Advances in\u00a0technology\u00a0through work at the Allen Institute and efforts\u00a0supported by the\u00a0NIH BRAIN\u00a0Initiative have allowed scientists to understand the brain in unprecedented detail\u00a0thanks to\u00a0technologies such as single-cell genomics, spatial transcriptomics, and high-resolution imaging.\u00a0This\u00a0cutting-edge\u00a0technology\u00a0has\u00a0produced\u00a0massive amounts of\u00a0multidimensional\u00a0data\u00a0on the brain that is ripe for analysis\u00a0and rich\u00a0with\u00a0insight.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The development of powerful\u00a0AI\u00a0systems\u00a0has made that analysis more accessible and faster\u00a0than ever.\u00a0Brain Health will be built for AI from the outset and\u00a0use artificial intelligence\u00a0to\u00a0analyze\u00a0massive\u00a0troves\u00a0of data, surface new\u00a0hypotheses\u00a0and insights,\u00a0and\u00a0help\u00a0scientists\u00a0model neurodegenerative\u00a0disorders\u00a0to\u00a0reveal\u00a0the underlying “grammar of disease.”\u00a0<\/p>\n
AWS will be a leading technology partner and support Brain Health through cloud storage and infrastructure. “For nearly a decade, AWS and the Allen Institute have worked together to expand data in open science on brain diseases, making world-class neuroscience accessible to researchers everywhere, said Rick Buettner, Managing Director of Global Nonprofits at AWS. “The Brain Health accelerator is the next chapter: translating years of discovery into a cellular-level understanding of diseases like Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s, and ALS. We believe this research deserves the same urgency and bold commitment we bring to any grand challenge in science.”<\/p>\n
“From its inception, the Allen Institute has addressed big questions in neuroscience and taken on scientific challenges that seemed to many of us to be beyond current capabilities,” said\u00a0John H. Morrison,\u00a0president of the Society for Neuroscience\u00a0and\u00a0UC Davis Distinguished Professor in the Department of Neurology and School of Medicine. “They have now decided to take on the ultimate challenge:\u00a0to directly translate their foundational insights and approaches to the enhancement of human brain health in a broadly based collaborative effort that will reach across the world. There is every reason to believe that they will succeed.”\u00a0<\/p>\n
Since\u00a02003, the Allen Institute has pioneered\u00a0a gold-standard model for\u00a0multidisciplinary, collaborative, big, team and open science that has made Brain Health accelerator a possibility.\u00a0From mouse to man, it is the culmination of over two decades of work now poised to advance human health for all.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Allen Institute,\u00a0together with partner\u00a0organizations,\u00a0today launched the\u00a0Brain Health accelerator:\u00a0an ambitious\u00a0global research initiative\u00a0seeking\u00a0to\u00a0identify the\u00a0specific\u00a0brain\u00a0cells and circuits\u00a0affected\u00a0in\u00a0neurodegenerative disease\u00a0and\u00a0other\u00a0brain\u00a0disorders\u00a0and use that…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":148092,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[1596,14631,3033,799,2288,134,3193,6822,3942,6570,111,139,69,1675,1518,145],"class_list":["post-457509","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-health","tag-brain","tag-brain-disease","tag-cell","tag-dementia","tag-genomics","tag-health","tag-medicine","tag-neurodegeneration","tag-neurodegenerative-disease","tag-neuroscience","tag-new-zealand","tag-newzealand","tag-nz","tag-public-health","tag-research","tag-technology"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/457509","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=457509"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/457509\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/148092"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=457509"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=457509"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=457509"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}