BROTMAN BATY INSTITUTE

What BROTMAN BATY INSTITUTE does

Brotman Baty Institute (BBI) is a nonprofit research institute founded in November 2017 as a tri-institutional collaboration among UW Medicine, Fred Hutchinson Cancer Center, and Seattle Children's Hospital, with philanthropic support from the Brotman and Baty families. It serves 300+ faculty members across the three partner institutions, providing unified access to advanced genomic and synthetic-biology platforms at identical costs. The institute's core mission is to enable exploration at the interface of basic science and precision medicine, with the explicit goal of eliminating "variants of uncertain significance" that currently limit clinical interpretation of genetic data.

BBI's core technology stack centers on the Variant Effects Program — pioneering Multiplexed Assays of Variant Effect (MAVEs), deep mutational scanning, and CRISPR-based variant analysis — paired with the BBI Advanced Technology Lab for single-cell sequencing support. The Variant Effects Program Dashboard, MaveDB open-source data repository, and BBI-CVD clinical variant database form the public-facing data infrastructure. In January 2024 BBI launched the Seattle Hub for Synthetic Biology (SeaHub) with the Allen Institute and Chan Zuckerberg Initiative ($70M combined commitment), developing DNA Typewriter and ENGRAM technologies for cellular history recording and therapeutic reprogramming. SeaBridge (March 2025), funded by a $10M five-year Washington Research Foundation grant, adds a postdoctoral fellowship program and LaunchPad translational research center targeting commercialization.

BBI does not generate commercial revenue. All operations are funded through research grants and philanthropy — disclosed inflows of $16M from NIH (IGVF consortium, 2021), $70M from Allen Institute and CZI (SeaHub, 2023), and $10M from Washington Research Foundation (SeaBridge, 2025). The go-to-market is community-led: equal-access platform provisioning for partner-institution researchers, open-source data repositories (MaveDB) for global academic users, and the Atlas of Variant Effects (AVE) Alliance for international consortium coordination. Customer segments are primarily academic and research institutions, with secondary reach into clinical/healthcare organizations via BBI-CVD and into developmental-biology researchers via SeaHub atlases.

Name

BROTMAN BATY INSTITUTE

Legal name

Brotman Baty Institute

Website

https://brotmanbatyinstitute.org

Company type

Private

Founded year

2017

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

Brotman Baty Institute is a nonprofit research collaboration among the University of Washington, Fred Hutchinson Cancer Center, and Seattle Children's Hospital, pioneering MAVE-based genomic variant effect analysis, single-cell sequencing, and synthetic biology tools for 300+ academic and clinical researchers.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Genomic Research Services

NAICS

Research and Development in Biotechnology (except Nanobiotechnology) (541714), Research and Development in the Physical, Engineering, and Life Sciences (54171)

SIC

Services-Commercial Physical & Biological Research (8731)

akta.pro primary industry

Molecular Diagnostics & Genomics Laboratories (HLAFAMAE)

akta.pro secondary industries

Synthetic Biology & Genetic Circuit Design Platforms (pathway engineering, chassis development) (HLAAAIAD), Cellomics & High-Content Screening (HCS) Services (HLAGANAD)

Keywords

• Genomic research
• Precision medicine
• Single-cell sequencing
• Variant effect analysis
• Synthetic biology

Headquarters

HQ city

Seattle

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Technology or R&D, Operations, Infrastructure

Revenue model

1. Research Grants and Philanthropic Funding: BBI operates primarily through grant funding from organizations such as NIH ($16M awarded), Washington Research Foundation ($10M grant), and other research foundations. The institute was established with philanthropic support from Jeff and Susan Brotman and Dan and Pam Baty.
2. Collaborative Research Funding: Allen Institute and Chan Zuckerberg Initiative each committed $35M in 2023 to establish Seattle Hub; funding supports large collaborative projects in genomics and synthetic biology

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels3 records

Marketing channels6 records

Core offering

The Brotman Baty Institute (BBI) operates a portfolio of genomic research platforms and shared technology infrastructure for investigators at UW Medicine, Fred Hutchinson Cancer Center, and Seattle Children's Hospital. Its core offerings include the Variant Effects Program (using Multiplexed Assays of Variant Effect/MAVE technology to characterize genetic variants at scale), the BBI Advanced Technology Lab (single-cell sequencing and high-throughput -omics), and the Seattle Hub for Synthetic Biology (DNA Typewriter and ENGRAM cell-recording technologies).

Product overview

BBI is a research innovation hub for genomic research and precision medicine, operating as a collaboration among UW Medicine, Fred Hutchinson Cancer Center, and Seattle Children's Hospital. The institute provides a portfolio of research programs, platforms, and technologies including the Variant Effects Program (using MAVEs technology to characterize genetic variants), the BBI Advanced Technology Lab (single-cell sequencing), and the Seattle Hub for Synthetic Biology (SeaHub) with its DNA Typewriter and ENGRAM technologies for cell recording. SeaBridge extends this ecosystem as a fellowship and LaunchPad program for commercialization. BBI tools and data support members and researchers worldwide through platforms including the Variant Effects Program Dashboard, MaveDB repository, and BBI-CVD clinical database.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• BBI Advanced Technology Lab: BBI's technology laboratory focused on developing tools for variant analysis and genomic research.
• SeaBridge
• Seattle Hub for Synthetic Biology (SeaHub)
• Variant Effects Program
• Atlas of Variant Effects Alliance
• BBI Grant Program

Products and services

• Variant Effects Program A unified research platform pioneering Multiplexed Assays of Variant Effect (MAVEs) technologies to systematically measure and decode the functional consequences of genetic variants at scale, enabling researchers, clinicians, and patients to understand genetic variation for precision medicine.
• BBI Advanced Technology Lab An advanced technology laboratory providing single-cell sequencing support and high-throughput genomic technologies to enable large-scale collaborative projects across BBI member institutions (UW Medicine, Fred Hutch, Seattle Children's).
• Seattle Hub for Synthetic Biology (SeaHub) A landmark collaborative initiative building new technologies including DNA Typewriter and ENGRAM to record the history of cells over time and reprogram disease states. Provides single-cell sequencing support and generates transcriptomic and epigenomic atlases across vertebrates.
• SeaBridge Postdoctoral training fellowship program combined with LaunchPad translational research center to train future scientists and boost commercialization of cell and genome programming technologies developed at Seattle Hub.
• MaveDB

Quantifiable outcome

• Created comprehensive atlas of genetic variants through international AVE Alliance consortium
• +3 more outcomes

Named customers3 records

Segments3 records

Ideal customer profiles3 records

Technology focussed Yes

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

AI capability4 records

Feature7 records

Partnerships

Ten partnerships are on record, tiered minor, core and major.

• GeneDXminorStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 2025Partner in Seqfirst-neo study applying rapid genome sequencing in NICU settings; study published in American Journal of Human Genetics.
• Seattle Hub for Synthetic Biology (SeaHub)coreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 2024Multi-institutional collaboration operationalizing and administering UW portion of SeaHub project; includes BBI, Allen Institute, and CZI.
• Allen InstitutecoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 2023Core partner in Seattle Hub for Synthetic Biology; committed $35M in 2023. Allen Institute hosts division and provides executive leadership (Jesse Gray) for Seattle Hub.
• University of California, San Francisco (UCSF)majorStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 2021Collaborating institution on NIH-funded Impact of Genome Variation on Function project led by Shendure, with team at UCSF led by Nadav Ahituv.
• Charité Universitätsmedizin BerlinmajorStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 2021International collaborating institution on NIH-funded project studying how genetic variants affect genome function; team led by Martin Kircher.
• Atlas of Variant Effects (AVE) AlliancemajorStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 2020International consortium working to create comprehensive atlas of genetic variants; BBI co-hosts annual Mutational Scanning Symposium with AVE Alliance.
• Center for the Multiplex Assessment of Phenotype (CMAP)majorStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 2020Center of Excellence in Genome Science funded by NIH; BBI participates as one of 13 centers in the US advancing variant effect studies.
• University of Washington (UW Medicine)coreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 November 2017Founding partner institution; UW Medicine faculty comprise the majority of BBI researchers. BBI provides single-cell sequencing support to UW labs and operates from UW campus.
• Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research CentercoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 November 2017Founding partner institution; Fred Hutch researchers participate in BBI research programs and access BBI platforms.
• Seattle Children's HospitalcoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 November 2017Founding partner institution; Seattle Children's researchers participate in BBI research and access shared platforms.

Scale indicators8 records

Recent moves8 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Market position

Competitive moat5 records

Key risks5 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/BrotmanBaty

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles10 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds1 record

Investors1 record

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M&A

Investments

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