Paul Allen gives another $300 million to brain research

Paul Allen is putting another $300 million into brain research.

Allen, co-founder of Microsoft and owner of the Seattle Seahawks, started the Allen Institute for Brain Science to get a better understanding of how the brain works and how to treat brain-related diseases and disorders.

Allen Institute for Brain Science CEO Allan Jones says the new money will allow the institute to expand with the goal of answering basic questions about brain function.

“To really know at a fundamental level how the brain works,” says Jones, “I think that would be huge.”

“If you can imagine all the effects on society from mental disease, from psychiatric illness, from brain injury,” says Jones. “The importance of really getting to how the brain works is critical.”

Jones says they’re trying to better understand Alzheimer’s, depression and traumatic brain injury.

“This new funding enables us to apply our structured, industrial-scale approach to science to tackle increasingly complex questions about how the brain works-questions that must be answered if we are to understand and treat autism, Alzheimer’s disease, depression, traumatic brain injury and the myriad other brain-related diseases and disorders that affect all of us either directly or indirectly,” says Jones.

So far, Allen has committed $500 million to the institute, and calls their accomplishments thus far “remarkable.”

“With its disciplined, mission-focused approach, the Institute has successfully tackled big-science projects, delivering tangible results that are helping to advance brain research around the world every day. I am excited to expand the scale and scope of the Institute’s efforts, and I look forward to seeing what we will accomplish in the future.”