Open Access News

News from the open access movement


Monday, September 22, 2003

$100 million open-access brain atlas

Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen has donated $100 million to create the open-access Allen Brain Atlas. Quoting the press release: "Through a collection of gene expression maps, brain circuitry and cell location, the Atlas will illustrate the functional anatomy of the brain. Building a publicly-accessible research tool that overlays structural imagery of the brain with specific details about the locations and functions of active genes will be carried out on an unprecedented scale, representing an immense advance in brain science." More press coverage. (PS: This is clearly the most expensive open-access development project ever launched and funded. Kudos to Paul Allen, not only for funding a project that no other funder could handle, but for realizing that the resulting knowledge will be more useful when openly shared than when locked up and metered for paying customers.)