Collaboration Revenue (Details Textual)					3 Months Ended								12 Months Ended
	Jul. 26, 2019 USD ($)	Jun. 17, 2019 $ / shares shares	Feb. 11, 2019	Jun. 18, 2018 USD ($) $ / shares shares	Dec. 31, 2020 USD ($) VaccineDose shares	Sep. 30, 2020 USD ($)	Jun. 30, 2020 USD ($)	Mar. 31, 2020 USD ($)	Dec. 31, 2019 USD ($) shares	Sep. 30, 2019 USD ($)	Jun. 30, 2019 USD ($)	Mar. 31, 2019 USD ($)	Dec. 31, 2020 USD ($) VaccineDose shares	Dec. 31, 2019 USD ($) shares	Dec. 31, 2018 USD ($)	Dec. 31, 2017 USD ($)	Oct. 31, 2020 USD ($)	Jun. 18, 2019 Target	Jun. 16, 2019 Target
Collaborative Arrangements And Noncollaborative Arrangement Transactions [Line Items]
Collaboration revenue					$ 2,238,000	$ 2,333,000	$ 2,322,000	$ 2,646,000	$ 2,968,000	$ 3,318,000	$ 10,153,000	$ 4,350,000	$ 9,539,000	$ 20,789,000	$ 15,753,000
Deferred revenue					$ 30,620,000				$ 23,579,000				$ 30,620,000	$ 23,579,000
Purchase of common stock, shares | shares					26,192,000				15,138,000				26,192,000	15,138,000
Collaboration Partner Janssen [Member]
Collaborative Arrangements And Noncollaborative Arrangement Transactions [Line Items]
Collaboration revenue													$ 2,964,000	$ 2,912,000	1,232,000
Collaboration Partner - Ultragenyx [Member]
Collaborative Arrangements And Noncollaborative Arrangement Transactions [Line Items]
Collaboration revenue													3,983,000	5,862,000	6,794,000
Collaboration Partner - CureVac [Member]
Collaborative Arrangements And Noncollaborative Arrangement Transactions [Line Items]
Collaboration revenue													$ 1,006,000	6,611,000	4,427,000
Maximum [Member] | Collaboration Partner CureVac Entered Into Co Development Agreement [Member]
Collaborative Arrangements And Noncollaborative Arrangement Transactions [Line Items]
Potential target license term	8 years
Minimum [Member] | Collaboration Partner CureVac Entered Into Co Development Agreement [Member]
Collaborative Arrangements And Noncollaborative Arrangement Transactions [Line Items]
Potential target license term	4 years
Israeli Ministry of Health (“MOH”) [Member]
Collaborative Arrangements And Noncollaborative Arrangement Transactions [Line Items]
Non-refundable payment received																	$ 12,500,000
Number of reserved vaccine doses | VaccineDose					500,000								500,000
Research Collaboration And Exclusive License Agreement [Member] | Collaboration Partner Janssen [Member]
Collaborative Arrangements And Noncollaborative Arrangement Transactions [Line Items]
Upfront payment received																$ 7,700,000
Research Collaboration And Exclusive License Agreement [Member] | Collaboration Partner Janssen [Member] | ASU 2014-09 [Member]
Collaborative Arrangements And Noncollaborative Arrangement Transactions [Line Items]
Remaining performance obligation									$ 0					0
Deferred revenue					$ 5,900,000								$ 5,900,000		5,900,000
Research Collaboration And Exclusive License Agreement [Member] | Collaboration Partner - Ultragenyx [Member]
Collaborative Arrangements And Noncollaborative Arrangement Transactions [Line Items]
Collaboration revenue													4,000,000.0	5,900,000	6,800,000
Upfront payment received				$ 6,000,000.0									27,900,000
Revenue recognition potential milestone revenue recognized													$ 138,000,000.0
Option exercise fee received					500,000
Royalty payment term description													Ultragenyx will pay royalties as a single-digit percentage of net sales on a product-by-product and country-by-country basis during the applicable royalty term.
Number of targets | Target																		12	10
Purchase of common stock, shares | shares				2,400,000
Purchase of additional shares of common stock | shares		600,000		600,000
Purchase of additional shares of common stock price per share | $ / shares		$ 16.00		$ 16.0
Consideration received				$ 30,000,000.0
Consideration received for common stock purchase				24,000,000.0
Transaction price				$ 14,400,000
Research Collaboration And Exclusive License Agreement [Member] | Collaboration Partner - Ultragenyx [Member] | ASU 2014-09 [Member]
Collaborative Arrangements And Noncollaborative Arrangement Transactions [Line Items]
Remaining performance obligation					0								$ 0
Deferred revenue					9,200,000				12,700,000				$ 9,200,000	12,700,000
Revenue, practical expedient description													The Company recognizes the reimbursement of labor and expenses as costs are incurred and none of the development and commercialization milestones were included in the transaction price, as all milestone amounts were fully constrained.
Cumulative catch up adjustment													$ 1,100,000
Revenue recognition, reserve target exclusivity period													4 years
Research Collaboration And Exclusive License Agreement [Member] | Maximum [Member] | Collaboration Partner Janssen [Member]
Collaborative Arrangements And Noncollaborative Arrangement Transactions [Line Items]
Revenue recognition potential milestone revenue recognized																$ 56,500,000
Option exercise revenue range per target													$ 5,000,000.0
Research Collaboration And Exclusive License Agreement [Member] | Maximum [Member] | Collaboration Partner - Ultragenyx [Member]
Collaborative Arrangements And Noncollaborative Arrangement Transactions [Line Items]
Option exercise revenue range per target													1,500,000
Lack of marketability discount restricted period				2 years
Research Collaboration And Exclusive License Agreement [Member] | Minimum [Member] | Collaboration Partner Janssen [Member]
Collaborative Arrangements And Noncollaborative Arrangement Transactions [Line Items]
Option exercise revenue range per target													1,000,000.0
Research Collaboration And Exclusive License Agreement [Member] | Minimum [Member] | Collaboration Partner - Ultragenyx [Member]
Collaborative Arrangements And Noncollaborative Arrangement Transactions [Line Items]
Option exercise revenue range per target													500,000
Research Collaboration And Exclusive License Agreement [Member] | Foreign Countries [Member]
Collaborative Arrangements And Noncollaborative Arrangement Transactions [Line Items]
Collaboration revenue													$ 1,000,000.0	7,000,000.0	5,000,000.0
mRNA Technology [Member] | Collaboration Partner - CureVac [Member]
Collaborative Arrangements And Noncollaborative Arrangement Transactions [Line Items]
Royalty payment term description													CureVac will pay royalties as a percentage of net sales on a product-by-product and country-by-country basis during the applicable royalty term in the low single-digit range
Development and option agreement date													2018-01
Expiration of initial term													8 years
Option to extend initial term on an annual basis													3 years
mRNA Technology [Member] | Collaboration Partner - CureVac [Member] | Rare Disease Targets [Member]
Collaborative Arrangements And Noncollaborative Arrangement Transactions [Line Items]
Revenue recognition potential milestone revenue recognized													$ 14,000,000.0
mRNA Technology [Member] | Collaboration Partner - CureVac [Member] | Non-Rare Disease Targets [Member]
Collaborative Arrangements And Noncollaborative Arrangement Transactions [Line Items]
Revenue recognition potential milestone revenue recognized													23,000,000.0
mRNA Technology [Member] | Collaboration Partner - CureVac [Member] | ASU 2014-09 [Member]
Collaborative Arrangements And Noncollaborative Arrangement Transactions [Line Items]
Remaining performance obligation	$ 0
Deferred revenue					$ 2,300,000				$ 3,200,000				$ 2,300,000	3,200,000
Revenue, practical expedient description													The Company recognizes the reimbursement of labor and expenses as costs are incurred and none of the development and commercialization milestones were included in the transaction price, as all milestone amounts were fully constrained.
Adjustments to transaction price	0
Upfront fee received													$ 5,000,000.0
Contractual term													31 months
Cumulative catch up adjustment													$ 400,000
mRNA Technology [Member] | Collaboration Partner CureVac Entered Into Co Development Agreement [Member]
Collaborative Arrangements And Noncollaborative Arrangement Transactions [Line Items]
Collaboration agreement termination date			Feb. 11, 2019
Percentage of global rights reassumed			100.00%
Termination Agreement [Member] | Collaboration Partner CureVac Entered Into Co Development Agreement [Member]
Collaborative Arrangements And Noncollaborative Arrangement Transactions [Line Items]
Collaboration agreement settlement obligation settled amount	$ 4,000,000.0
Research And Exclusive License Agreement | Synthetic Genomics, Inc [Member]
Collaborative Arrangements And Noncollaborative Arrangement Transactions [Line Items]
Collaboration revenue													0	200,000	$ 1,200,000
Upfront fee received													200,000
Sublicense revenue recognized													$ 300,000	3,300,000
Research And Exclusive License Agreement | Maximum [Member] | Synthetic Genomics, Inc [Member] | LUNAR Product [Member]
Collaborative Arrangements And Noncollaborative Arrangement Transactions [Line Items]
Percentage of all cash payments received													20.00%
Research And Exclusive License Agreement | Maximum [Member] | Synthetic Genomics, Inc [Member] | Non-LUNAR Product [Member]
Collaborative Arrangements And Noncollaborative Arrangement Transactions [Line Items]
Percentage of consideration received													10.00%
Research And Exclusive License Agreement | Minimum [Member] | Synthetic Genomics, Inc [Member] | LUNAR Product [Member]
Collaborative Arrangements And Noncollaborative Arrangement Transactions [Line Items]
Percentage of all cash payments received													10.00%
Research And Exclusive License Agreement | Minimum [Member] | Synthetic Genomics, Inc [Member] | Non-LUNAR Product [Member]
Collaborative Arrangements And Noncollaborative Arrangement Transactions [Line Items]
Percentage of consideration received													5.00%
Other Collaboration Agreements [Member] | Takeda Pharmaceutical Company Limited and Providence Therapeutics Incorporation [Member]
Collaborative Arrangements And Noncollaborative Arrangement Transactions [Line Items]
Revenue related to amortization of upfront payment													$ 1,000,000.0	$ 1,300,000