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Accelerating science for a healthier world. The Allen Institute is an independent, 501(c)(3) nonprofit medical research organization.

10/13/2026

Join Pacific Science Center next Wednesday, October 21st at 6:30PM for a special evening of science and film with Little Shop of Horrors and a short presentation and Q&A with Kaitlyn Casimo, Senior Education & Engagement Manager at the Allen Institute.

10/12/2026

Science happens in the lab, but careers are built in community.

The first ever Stem Cell & Biology Early Career Symposium brought together more than 160 emerging scientists from around the world to share research, build networks, and learn the skills needed to thrive beyond the laboratory.

From breakthroughs in science to conversations about funding, resilience, collaboration, and career growth, attendees discovered what happens outside the lab can be just as important as what happens within it.

10/09/2026

Following the October 14 7:30 p.m. performance of Eureka Day, join Allen Institute Senior Manager of Education & Engagement Kaitlyn Casimo, Allen Institute Assistant Investigator Adam Savage, and Eric Chow of the University of Washington and King County Public Health for a free post-show panel discussion about Vaccines in the real world: public health, science communication, and vaccine hesitancy.

Tickets to the October 14 performance of Eureka Day are required. Stay in the theater after the show to attend this informative panel discussion.

Ticketing and info: https://bit.ly/47d1ZZR

10/08/2026

Every living thing starts as a single cell. But how one cell becomes millions, and each finds its own place in the brain, heart, or body, has been one of biology’s greatest mysteries.

Researchers from the Seattle Hub for Synthetic Biology just got closer to an answer. Using a technology called DNA Typewriter, scientists mapped the largest cellular family tree ever built for a mammal.

DNA typewriter works like a journal written inside the genome. As cells divide, sequential genetic stamps are copied into every daughter cell, recording the lineage in order. By reading those stamps across 1.58 million cell nuclei, the team was able to reconstruct exactly which cell gave rise to which.

10/05/2026

Congratulations to Karl Deisseroth, who sits on Allen Institute's Brain Science Scientific Advisory Council! Karl Deisseroth received the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine alongside Peter Hegemann and Georg Nagel for discoveries concerning light-gated ion channels and optogenetics. We're honored to celebrate with them!

09/30/2026

Every brain cell has a family tree. Newly published findings on how one cell becomes many will support research on forebrain development and its disorders.

Researchers at the Allen Institute and UCSF have built the first comprehensive lineage atlas of the newborn mouse forebrain, published today in Nature. By tagging stem cells with unique genetic barcodes at eight points during development, the team traced more than 416,000 cells back to nearly 300,000 distinct lineages across five brain regions, revealing what each cell became, when it was born, and where it ended up.

Some cells are "born together, stay together,” and settle near their birthplace. Other cells are "born together, reared apart,” and migrate widely across the brain. The farthest-traveling neurons are significantly enriched for genes linked to autism and other neurodevelopmental conditions, suggesting these disorders may stem less from one faulty region and more from disruptions to the migration programs that wire circuits across the whole brain. It changes where researchers should look, and potentially where therapies should aim.

09/28/2026

"This is the best time in the history of humanity."

That's how Sanjay Srivatsan, scientific co-director of AI BioDesign, describes this moment for biology on KING 5's HealthLink.

For centuries, scientists have worked to understand life's building blocks. Now, researchers from the Allen Institute, Fred Hutch, and UW Medicine are using AI to design proteins that nature never made, with the goal of new therapies from RNA vaccines to CAR T-cells for cancer.

09/28/2026

Allen Institute alums: Join us on Wednesday, October 7 for our 3rd annual alumni evening. We're excited to welcome you back to 615 Westlake, share news, and reconnect. Don't miss it! RSVP today: https://bit.ly/4z7PF9n

(This event is for current and former employees only)

09/26/2026

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.

09/25/2026

What if we could engineer biology as reliably as we engineer software?

That’s the vision behind AI BioDesign, a new collaboration between the Allen Institute, UW Medicine, and Fred Hutch Cancer Center to combine AI and experimental biology in order to build molecules that have never existed in nature.

AI BioDesign is powered by Seattle’s science ecosystem and built to be openly shared.

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http://alleninstitute.org/

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