Medical Research Council (UK)

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The Medical Research Council (MRC) is a UK organisation dedicated to "improve human health through world-class medical research".

[edit] Organisation

The MRC is one of seven Research Councils and is answerable to, although politically independent from, the Department for Innovation, Universities and Skills (DIUS) since June 2007. (Previously to the Office of Science and Innovation, part of the Department of Trade and Industry).

It is governed by a council of 14 members, which convenes every two months. Daily management is in the hands of the Chief Executive. Members of the council also chair specialist boards on specific areas of research. For specific subjects, the council convenes committees.

The MRC funds research centres, three main institutes (in Cambridge, Mill Hill and Hammersmith) and 35 smaller units nationwide. Overseas facilities are located in Gambia and Uganda.

[edit] History

The MRC started as the Medical Research Committee in 1913, its prime role being the distribution of medical research funds under the terms of the 1911 National Insurance Act. This was a consequence of the recommendation of the Royal Commission on Tuberculosis, which recommended the creation of a permanent medical research body. The mandate was not limited to tuberculosis, however.

In 1920, it became the Medical Research Council under Royal Charter. A supplementary Charter was formally approved by the Queen on 17 July 2003.

[edit] Landmark research

Important early work carried out under MRC auspices was:

Identification of the dietary cause of rickets by Sir Edward Mellanby
Discovery, in 1918, that influenza is caused by a virus
Description of neurotransmission and the first neurotransmitter, acetylcholine, by Sir Henry Hallett Dale and Otto Loewi, leading to a Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine in 1936;
Development of penicillin by Sir Alexander Fleming, Sir Ernst Boris Chain and Lord Florey, gaining them the 1945 Nobel Prize;
Linkage of lung cancer to tobacco smoking by Sir Richard Doll and Sir Austin Bradford Hill in the British doctors study, published in 1956;
Discovery of the structure of DNA by James D. Watson, Francis Crick, Rosalind Franklin and Professor Maurice Wilkins. They would receive the 1962 Nobel Prize for Physiology and Medicine for their discovery.
Development of magnetic resonance imaging in 1973 by Professor Peter Mansfield and independently by Paul Lauterbur. This would lead to the 2003 Nobel Prize.
Development of monoclonal antibodies by César Milstein and Georges Köhler in 1975 (1984 Nobel Prize)
The identification, in 1983, of folic acid as a preventive measure for spina bifida and neural tube defects
Large studies, in the 1970s and 1980s, showing that aspirin can decrease the risk of cardiovascular disease.
The publication of the genome of C. elegans, the first multicellular organism to receive this treatment, in 1998.
The ongoing Heart Protection Study, showing benefits of primary prevention with simvastatin in patients at high risk for cardiovascular disease.

In all, scientists associated with the MRC have received 22 Nobel Prizes in both Medicine or Physiology and Chemistry.

[edit] CEOs

As Chief Executive Officers (originally secretaries) served:

1914-33: Sir Walter Morley Fletcher
1933-49: Sir Edward Mellanby
1949-68: Sir Harold Himsworth
1968-77: Sir John Gray
1977-87: Sir James Gowans
1987-96: Sir Dai Rees
1996-2003: Professor Sir George Radda
2003-2007: Professor Colin Blakemore
2007-Present: Professor Sir Leszek Borysiewicz

[edit] Institutes, Centres and Units

[edit] Birmingham

Centre for Immune Regulation

[edit] Brighton

Centre in Genome Damage and Stability

[edit] Bristol

Centre for Synaptic Plasticity
Centre for Causal Analyses in Translational Epidemiology

[edit] Cambridge

Behavioural and Clinical Neuroscience Institute
Biostatistics Unit (BSU)
Cancer Cell Unit
Centre for Nutritional Epidemiology in Cancer Prevention and Survival (CNC)
Centre for Obesity and Related Metabolic Diseases
Centre for Protein Engineering
Centre for Stem Cell Biology and Regenerative Medicine
Cognition and Brain Sciences Unit (CBU) - formerly known as the Applied Psychology Unit (APU)
Collaborative Centre for Human Nutrition Research
Dunn Human Nutrition Unit
Epidemiology Unit
Laboratory of Molecular Biology (LMB)

[edit] Edinburgh

Human Genetics Unit
Human Reproductive Sciences Unit
Centre for Inflammation Research (with the University of Edinburgh)
Centre for Stem Cell Research (with the University of Edinburgh)

[edit] Leicester

MRC Toxicology Unit (University of Leicester)

[edit] London

MRC-Asthma UK Centre in Allergic Mechanisms of Asthma, King's College London
MRC Centre for Developmental Neurobiology, King's College London
MRC Centre for Medical Law and Ethics, King's College London
MRC Centre for Neurodegeneration Research, King's College London
MRC Centre for Social Genetic and Developmental Psychiatry, King's College London
MRC Centre for Transplantation, King's College London
MRC Clinical Sciences Centre (CSC)
MRC National Survey of Health & Development: the 1946 cohort longitudinal study, originally of health and child development and, more recently, of ageing.

MRC Cell Biology Unit, MRC Laboratory for Molecular Cell Biology, University College London

[edit] Oxford

Didcot (Harwell) MRC Mammalian Genetics Unit
Didcot (Harwell) MRC Mary Lyon Centre
Didcot (Harwell) MRC Administration

[edit] Mill Hill

National Institute for Medical Research

[edit] The Gambia, Africa

Fajara - West Africa Operational Base
Keneba - Field Site
Farafenni - Field Site
Wali Kunda - Field Site
Basse - Field Site

[edit] Guinea Bissau, Africa

Caio - Field Site

[edit] External links