Scientific Heritage

In this section you can find out about the MRC's scientific heritage, including, landmark achievements in medical research. The MRC's 27 Nobel prize winners and why and how the MRC Human Genetics Unit was established in 1956.

Scientific History 1956-2010 | Our Origins

Important early work carried out under MRC auspices was:

• 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 Cesar Milstein and Georges Kohler 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

Facts and figures about MRC research in 2007/08

• Awarded over 300 new grants to researchers in universities, medical schools and research organisations in the UK at a value of over £170 million, including
• Spent £58m on training awards for postgraduate students and fellows
• Supported research units and institutes with £343m
• Scientists at units and institutes produced over 2,000 publications in peer-reviewed journals
• Increased licensing income receipts from all sources to £85.4m bringing total cash generated since 1998 to £384m, one of the highest rates of return internationally

A short history of the MRC.

Our Origins

The first decade of the MRC, after it was set up in 1913 to tackle tuberculosis.

Medical Research Council (UK)

Wikipedia the free encyclopedia: 4 Dec 2008

MRC Human Genetics Unit Directors

• 1956 - 1969 Dr Michael Court Brown
• 1969 - 1994 Professor John Evans
• 1994 - Present Professor Nick Hastie

Clinical Effects of Radiation Research Group

First established in 1956 as the Clinical Effects of Radiation Unit under the directorship of Professor W M Court-Brown. Over the years, with the expansion of research and the increase in staff, the unit was eventually re-housed in a new building and in 1967 the unit became known as the MRC Clinical and Population Cytogentics Unit.

MRC Clinical and Population Cytogenetics Unit

Following the arrival of a new Director, Professor John Evans, in 1969, the unit continued to grow considerably in size and reputation and in 1974 the new four storey Genetics Building was officially opened.

In 1988 the unit changed its name to the MRC Human Genetics Unit.

MRC Human Genetics Unit

The current Director, Professor Nick Hastie, arrived almost 25 years ago to take up a post as a senior group leader, becoming Director in 1994. The MRC's Human Genetics Unit, is one of the largest MRC research establishments (the largest research Unit) supporting approximately 220 scientists, support staff, fellows, PhD students, and visiting workers, of whom about 130 are directly funded by the MRC. The Unit is divided into four sections, three scientific and one providing centralised administrative, technical, and computing services.

Landmark Medical Research Council Work

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