From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The Medical Research Council (MRC) is a UK organisation
dedicated to "improving human health through world-class medical
research". It has produced 29 Nobel Prize winners and sustains an
environment for internationally recognised research. The MRC
focuses on making an impact and has provided the financial support
and scientific expertise behind a number of medical breakthroughs,
such as the development of penicillin, the structure of DNA and the
link between smoking and cancer. Today MRC funded scientists tackle
research into the major health challenges of the 21st century.
Organisation
The MRC is one of seven Research Councils
and is answerable to, although politically independent from, the Department
for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS) since 6 June 2009 -
previously Department
for Innovation, Universities and Skills (DIUS) . In the past,
the MRC has been answerable 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. Its Council, which directs and oversees corporate
policy and science strategy, ensures that the MRC is effectively
managed, and makes policy and spending decisions. Council members
are drawn from industry, academia, government and the NHS. Members
are appointed by the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation
and Skills. 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.
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.
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.
- Nobel Prize for Chemistry 2009 awarded to Dr Venki Ramakrishnan
of the MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology for showing how
ribosomes, the tiny protein-making factories inside cells, function
at the atomic level.
- Discovery that early treatment of HIV-infected babies with
anti-retroviral therapy can dramatically increase their chances of
survival.
- Development of a test for detecting infectious prions on
surgical instruments which is more accurate than previous tests and
100 times faster.
- Identification of the second ever genetic variant associated
with obesity.
- The finding that high quality surgery combined with a short
course of radiotherapy can halve the rate of recurrence of
colorectal cancer.
In all, scientists associated with the MRC have received 29
Nobel Prizes in both Medicine or Physiology and Chemistry.
CEOs
As Chief Executive Officers (originally secretaries) served:
Institutes, Centres and
Units
The MRC has 28 units and three institutes in the UK, and two
units in The Gambia and Uganda. It also has 22 centres offering
partnerships with UK universities to develop centres of scientific
excellence. Three 'lifelong health' research centres were announced
in 2008, funded by the MRC, the Biotechnology and Biological
Sciences Research Council, the Engineering and Physical Sciences
Research Council and the Economic and Social Research Council, as
part of the Lifelong Health and Wellbeing programme.
Birmingham
- MRC/University of Birmingham Centre for Immune Regulation
Brighton
- MRC/University of Sussex Centre in Genome Damage and
Stability
Bristol
- MRC/University of Bristol Centre for Synaptic Plasticity
- MRC Centre for Causal Analyses in Translational
Epidemiology
Cardiff
- MRC Centre Neuropsychiatric Genetics and Genomics
Cambridge
- MRC Mitochondrial Biology Unit
- MRC Laboratory of Molecular
Biology (LMB)
- MRC Collaborative Centre for Human Nutrition Research (formerly
known as Dunn Human Nutrition
Unit)
- MRC Cognition and Brain Sciences Unit
- MRC Centre for Stem Cell Biology and Regenerative Medicine
- MRC Centre for Protein Engineering
- MRC Centre for Obesity and Related Metabolic Diseases
- MRC Centre for Behavioural and Clinical Neuroscience Institute
(BCNI)
- MRC Cancer Cell Unit
- MRC Epidemiology Unit
- MRC Biostatistics Unit
Dundee
- MRC Protein Phosphorylation Unit
Edinburgh
- MRC/University of Edinburgh Centre for Inflammation
Research
- MRC Human Genetics Unit
- MRC Human Reproductive Sciences Unit
- MRC Centre for Regenerative Medicine
- MRC Centre for Cognitive Ageing and Cognitive Epidemiology
Entebbe
- MRC/UVRI Uganda Research Unit on AIDS
Fajarra
Glasgow
- MRC Institute of Hearing Research(Glasgow University)
- MRC Social & Public Health Sciences Unit, University of Glasgow
- MRC Virology Unit
Harwell
- MRC Mammalian Genetics Unit
Leicester
Liverpool
- MRC Centre for Drug Safety Science
London
- The Crucible Centre
- MRC/University College London
Centre for Medical Molecular Virology
- MRC Unit for Lifelong Health and Ageing, home of the National Survey
of Health & Development
- MRC Social, Genetic and Developmental Psychiatry (SGDP)
Centre
- MRC Prion Unit
- MRC National Institute for Medical Research (NIMR) including
the MRC Biomedical NMR Centre
- MRC International Nutrition Group
- MRC General Practice Research Framework (GPRF)
- MRC Clinical Trials Unit (CTU)
- MRC Clincial Sciences Centre (CSC)
- MRC Centre of Epidemiology for Child Health
- MRC Centre for Transplantation
- MRC Centre for Outbreak Analysis and Modelling
- MRC Centre for Neuromuscular Diseases
- MRC Centre for Neurodegeneration Research
- MRC Centre for Developmental Neurobiology at King's College London
- MRC Cell Biology Unit
- MRC Asthma UK Centre in Allergic Mechanisms of Asthma
Newcastle
- Centre for Brain Ageing and Vitality
Nottingham
- MRC Institute of Hearing Research (Nottingham)
Oxford
- Radiation Oncology and Biology Initiative
- MRC/Cancer Research UK/BHF Clinical Trial Service Unit &
Epidemiological Studies Unit (CTSU)
- MRC Human Immunology Unit
- MRC Functional Genomics Unit
- MRC Centre for Genomics and Global Health
- MRC Anatomical Neuropharmacology Unit
- MRC Molecular Haematology Unit
Sheffield
- MRC Centre for Developmental and Biomedical Genetics
Southampton
- MRC Institute of Hearing Research (Southampton)
- MRC Epidemiology Resource Centre
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