The project strives to fulfill this goal and advance science in a few ways. First, they create brain atlases to better understand the connections between genes and brain functioning. They aim to advance the research and knowledge about neurobiological conditions such as Parkinson's, Alzheimer's, and Autism with their mapping of gene expression throughout the brain. The Brain Atlas projects also follow the "Allen Institute" motto with their open release of data and findings. This policy is also related to another goal of the Institute: collaborative and multidisciplinary research. Thus, any scientist from any discipline is able to look at the findings and take them into account while designing their own experiments. Also available to the public is the Brain Explorer application. Research techniques The Allen Institute for Brain Science uses a project-based philosophy for their research. Each brain atlas focuses on its own project, made up of its own team of researchers. To complete an atlas, each research team collects and synthesizes brain scans, medical data, genetic information and psychological data. With this information, they are able to construct the 3-D biochemical architecture of the brain and figure out which proteins are expressed in certain parts of the brain. To gather the needed data, scientists at the Allen Institute use various techniques. One technique involves the use of postmortem brains and brain scanning technology to discover where in the brain genes are turned on and off. Another technique, called in situ hybridization, or ISH, is used to view gene expression patterns as in situ hybridization images. Within the Brain Atlases, these 3-D ISH digital images and graphs reveal, in color, the regions where a given gene is expressed. In the Brain Explorer, any gene can be searched for and selected resulting in the in situ image appearing as an easily manipulated and explored fashion. Part of the creation of this anatomy-centred database of gene expression, includes aligning ISH data for each gene with a three-dimensional coordinate space through registration with a reference atlas created for the project. Contributions to neuroscience The different types of cells in the central nervous system originate from varying gene expression. A map of gene expression in the brain allows researchers to correlate forms and functions. The Allen Brain Atlas lets researchers view the areas of differing expression in the brain which enables the viewing of neural connections throughout the brain. Viewing these pathways through differing