Pacific Northwest Research Institute

At the Pacific Northwest Research Institute (PNRI), they believe genetic research holds untapped potential to improve human health. They are an independent, nonprofit research organization led by forward-thinking scientists. By asking different questions, they are able to find new solutions in the fight against diseases ranging from Alzheimer’s to Type 1 diabetes. Instead of asking what causes disease, their genetic researchers ask what keeps us healthy. Why, in a family with two children who have the same risk of inheriting a genetic disease, does one child contract the disease while the other does not? PNRI is focused on the child who remains healthy despite genetic and environmental risk. While traditional genetic research has yielded important discoveries around individual genes, diagnosis, and the treatment of disease by focusing mostly on the child who becomes ill, PNRI is turning the question around. They work to uncover how nature prevents disease in the first place. Their approach holds the promise of revealing the human body’s innate ability to remain healthy. They know that genes do not act in isolation — they act together, evolve over time, and are influenced by the environment where they live. They focus on systems, investigating the interaction of genes and how they change as a complex network. They look at how genetic and environmental risks influence the development of disease. They look at the unexplored parts of the genome. They want to better understand how the non-coding parts of their genetic material can influence human health and disease.