Billionaire philanthropist Paul Allen pledged $100 million to launch an "industrial-scale" effort to understand the basic building block of all living things: the cell.

The donation will be used to build a new institute in Seattle that will develop a comprehensive visual database and predictive model of different types of cells, from cancer-ridden ones to neurons. Allen hopes this effort will help speed-up research into medical treatments and cures worldwide.

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The leader of this so called Allen Institute of Cell Science will be Rick Horwitz, who served 10 years as the Director of the Cell Migration Consortium and spent the last 15 years in the Department of Cell Biology.

The Microsoft co-founder said there's been a lot of recent research about genes and how influential they are in diseases. He added that recent studies showed how genes influence the composition, shape and functioning of cells.

"Cells are fundamental to every known human disease ... If you can get a better understanding of how those cell processes come into focus that can give you further insight into normal cell functioning and disease states that everyone wants to attack," Allen said.

The institute will have the latest technologies available for research, making its efforts in the fight against diseases and medical breakthroughs easier to achieve. All related projects such as the Allen Cell Observatory and the Allen Institute for Brain Science will be housed under the same roof.

The construction of the institute has already started and is expected to be completed in the fall of 2015.

TagsPaul Allen, Allen Institute of Cell Science, Paul Allen Donates US$100 Million to Build Cell Science Institute, genes, Cells, cell composition, Allen Cell Observatory, Allen Institute for Brain Science