History
In 2001, Paul Allen gathered a group of scientists, including James Watson and Steven Pinker, to discuss the future of neuroscience and what could be done to enhance neuroscience research (Jones 2009). During these meetings David Anderson from the California Institute of Technology proposed the idea that a three dimensional atlas of gene expression in the mouse brain would be of great use to the neuroscience community. The project was set in motion in 2003 with a 100 million dollar donation by Allen through the Allen Institute for Brain Science. The project used a technique for mapping gene expression developed by Gregor Eichele and colleagues at the Max Planck Institute in Hannover, Germany. The technique uses colorimetric in situ hybridization to map gene expression. The project set a 3 year goal of finishing the project and making it available to the public.
An initial release of the first atlas, the mouse brain atlas, occurred in December 2004. Subsequently, more data for this atlas was released in stages. The final genome-wide data set was released in September 2006. However, the final release of the atlas was not the end of the project; the Atlas is still being improved upon. Also, other projects including the human brain atlas, developing mouse brain, developing human brain, mouse connectivity, non-human primate atlas, and the mouse spinal cord atlas are being developed through the Allen Institute for Brain Science in conjunction with the Allen Mouse Brain Atlas.
Read more about this topic: Allen Brain Atlas
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