Sheanna Parry (left) and Emi Byrnes in the lab at AIBS. Photo by K. Brady.

Emi Byrnes, Biology class of 2002, and Sheana Parry, Biology class of 2004, are Research Associates at the Allen Institute for Brain Science. The Allen Institute is a non-profit research institute in Seattle whose pioneering project, the Allen Brain Atlas, is a complete map of gene expression in the brain, a truly laudable feat that began in 2003. Emi got on board at the Allen Institute in 2004, Sheana in 2005.

Both Emi and Sheana focused in the cellular and molecular biology track for their bachelor degrees. Sheana credits her landing of a position at the Institute with having taken an advanced cell lab in school, which provided her with the applicable skills for the job. As she says, you don’t want to get a job at a place like the Allen Institute and need them to teach you how to use a pipette. Emi worked in Biology professor Keiko Torii’s lab researching plant developmental genetics before working at the Allen Institute. Working in the Torii lab provided Emi with a host of knowledge that has been relevant in her current position.

What didn’t their biology degrees prepare them for? Perhaps not surprisingly, the mechanical troubleshooting and machine maintenance that is a routine part of their jobs. Particularly because many of the machines at the Allen Institute are custom, the scientists themselves have become the mechanical experts when technology goes awry.

Emi sorting slides prior to loading on robots for labeling. Photo courtesy of the Allen Institute for Brain Science.

To operate at the level and pace that it does, the Allen Institute has many specialized groups performing particular functions rather than researchers who perform every task. Emi and Sheana are both members of the Production, In-Situ Hybridization team. Examples of other groups include the Production, Sectioning team and the Molecular Biology team. All of these teams are in the Atlas Operations Department.

The Production, In-Situ Hybridization team is responsible for assembling all of the slides to be run each day. The machine that generates data on the slides takes 23.5 hours to run. This leaves half an hour to load all of the slides for the next run – not a lot of room for error. Because of the precise schedule, the order of events on any given day is pretty consistent. What makes sticking to such a rhythmic day easy, Emi explains, is the In-Situ Team’s good dynamic. But even more importantly, they both agree, is knowing that you’re part of something larger and scientifically important.

Computationally reconstructed 3D rendering of a mouse brain viewed from the front left illustrates where one gene (Man1a) is expressed, or turned on. The large red arc indicates that this gene is turned on strongly in the hippocampus, a part of the brain known to be involved in learning and memory. Image was generated from the Allen Brain Atlas using Brain Explorer. Photo courtesy of the Allen Institute for Brain Science.

Which is why completing the atlas last year was such a momentous occasion for everyone at the Institute. After years of work the complete atlas was available for the world to use. But, as Sheana says, the scientific community’s reception of it was the true test of its significance. And it was a warm reception indeed. After all, this is a tool that is helping countless researchers around the world accelerate and complete their investigations.

So what would these Biology alumni be doing if they weren’t working at the Allen Institute? Sheana says that she originally planned to work more in the field of medicine. She never took a neurology course in school so has learned vast quantities of information on the job. But the intimate details that she’s learned about the brain while working at the Institute have captured her interest so that her desire to work in the medical field might now be more oriented toward neurobiology. As for Emi, she dreams of owning her own restaurant and brewing her own beer. She actually took a course in brewing at UC Davis several years ago. Of course, we’re pleased to report that brewing beer still involves a fair bit of biology.

For more information about the Allen Institute for Brain Science, please visit www.alleninstitute.org.