rightThe
Medical Research Council (MRC) is a UK organisation dedicated to "promot
ing the balanced development of medical and related biological research in the UK".
Organisation
The MRC is one of eight Research Councils and is answerable to, although politically independent from, the Office of Science and Technology, which - in turn - is 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.
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 supplemental Charter would be approved by the Queen at the 17 July
2003 Privy Council.
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.
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-present: Professor Colin Blakemore
Subsections of Institutes
Cambridge
* Laboratory of Molecular Biology (LMB)
* Cognition and Brain Sciences Unit (CBU) - formerly known as the Applied Psychology Unit (APU)
* Biostatistics unit
* Centre for Protein Engineering
* Dunn Nutrition Centre
* The Hutchison/MRC Research Centre
Imperial College London/Hammersmith Hospital
* MRC Clinical Sciences Centre (CSC)
University College London
*MRC National Survey of Health & Development: the 1946 cohort longitudinal study, originally of health and child development and, more recently, of ageing.
Mill Hill
* National Institute for Medical Research (NIMR)
External links
*
MRC official web site *
Cognition and Brain Sciences dept., Cambridge Category:Medical research
Category:Health in the United Kingdom
Category:Public bodies and task forces of the United Kingdom government
