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Alzheimer’s Disease

Unlocking the mysteries of this mind-robbing disease affecting more than 55 million people worldwide

Alzheimer’s is a progressive form of dementia that affects people’s memory, thinking, and behavior.

Scientists don’t currently know exactly what causes Alzheimer’s or how it progresses, and there is no cure.

At the Allen Institute, our scientists are studying the human brain with unprecedented detail and clarity – putting a cellular face on the phenomenology of this devastating disease. By better understanding how Alzheimer’s starts and progresses, we can learn ways to treat and cure it.

The breakthroughs we power get us closer to new treatments that can slow or reverse Alzheimer’s devastating march through the brain.

Our scientists, researchers, computer engineers, and other experts work together every day to expand our understanding of Alzheimer’s disease.

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Yi Ding, Ph.D. (right) and Anna Marie Yanny, neuroscientists at the Allen Institute, working in the lab preparing brain cells from Alzheimer's patient donors for analysis through the SEA-AD consortium. Photo by Erik Dinnel / Allen Institute
Yi Ding, Ph.D. (right) and Anna Marie Yanny, neuroscientists at the Allen Institute, working in the lab preparing brain cells from Alzheimer’s patient donors for analysis through the SEA-AD consortium. Photo by Erik Dinnel / Allen Institute

Seattle Alzheimer’s Disease Brain Cell Atlas 

As we collect data and build resources that help us understand Alzheimer’s disease, we share them openly with the scientific community.

The Seattle Alzheimer’s Disease Brain Cell Atlas, headquartered at the Allen Institute, fuels understanding of the cellular and molecular changes that underlie Alzheimer’s—how it starts, and how it progresses in the human brain.