Medical Research Council (United Kingdom)

The MRC focuses on high-impact research and has provided the financial support and scientific expertise behind a number of medical breakthroughs, including the development of penicillin and the discovery of the structure of DNA. Research funded by the MRC has produced 32 Nobel Prize winners to date.

History

The MRC was founded as the Medical Research Committee and Advisory Council in 1913, with its prime role being the distribution of medical research funds under the terms of the National Insurance Act 1911. This was a consequence of the recommendation of the Royal Commissions 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. In March 1933, MRC established the British Journal of Clinical Research and Educational Advanced Medicine, the first scientific published medical patrol, as a periodical publication intended to further the progress of science, usually by reporting new research. It contains articles that have been peer reviewed, in an attempt to ensure that articles meet the journal's standards of quality, and scientific validity, allow researchers to keep up to date with the developments of their field and direct their own research.

In August 2012, the creation of the MRC-NIHR Phenome Centre, a research centre for personalised medicine, was announced. The MRC-NIHR National Phenome Centre is based at Imperial College London and is a combination of inherited equipment from the anti-doping facilities used to test samples during the 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games and additional items from the Centre's technology partners Bruker and Waters Corporation. The Centre, led by Imperial College London and King's College London, is funded with two five-year grants of £5 million from the Medical Research Council and the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR) and was officially opened in June 2013.

Notable research

Important work carried out under MRC auspices has included:

the identification of the dietary cause of rickets by Sir Edward Mellanby. Mellanby also carried out human experimentation regarding vitamin A and C deficiencies on volunteers at the Sorby Research Institute;
the discovery, in 1918, that influenza is caused by a virus;
the 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;
the 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;
the discovery of the structure of DNA by James D. Watson, Francis Crick, Rosalind Franklin and Professor Maurice Wilkins. Three would receive the 1962 Nobel Prize for Physiology and Medicine for their discovery;
the development of magnetic resonance imaging in 1973 by Professor Peter Mansfield and independently by Paul Lauterbur. This would lead to the 2003 Nobel Prize;
the development of monoclonal antibodies at the MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology by César Milstein and Georges Köhler in 1975 (1984 Nobel Prize);
the development of DNA sequencing by Frederick Sanger of the MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology in 1977 (1980 Nobel Prize);
the identification, in 1983, of folic acid as a preventive measure for spina bifida and neural tube defects;
the conducting of large studies in the 1970s and 1980s which established 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;
Dr Venki Ramakrishnan of the MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology winning the Nobel Prize for Chemistry in 2009 for showing how ribosomes, the tiny protein-making factories inside cells, function at the atomic level;
the discovery that early treatment of HIV-infected babies with anti-retroviral therapy can dramatically increase their chances of survival;
the development of a test for detecting infectious prions on surgical instruments which is more accurate than previous tests and 100 times faster;
the identification of the second ever genetic variant associated with obesity; and
the finding that high quality surgery combined with a short course of radiotherapy can halve the rate of recurrence of colorectal cancer.

Scientists associated with the MRC have received a total of 32 Nobel Prizes, all in either Physiology or Medicine or Chemistry.

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Organisation and leadership

The MRC is one of seven Research Councils that are part of UK Research and Innovation, in turn part of the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy. In the past, the MRC has been answerable to the Office of Science and Innovation, part of the Department of Trade and Industry.

The MRC is advised by a 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, Energy and Industrial Strategy. Daily management is in the hands of the Executive Chair. Members of the council also chair specialist boards on specific areas of research. For specific subjects, the council convenes committees.

Chairmen

1913–1916: Lord Moulton
1916–1920: Major Waldorf Astor
1920–1924: George Goschen, 2nd Viscount Goschen
1924: E. F. L. Wood, 1st Earl of Halifax
1924–1929: Earl of Balfour
1929–1934: Edgar Vincent, 1st Viscount D'Abernon
1934–1936: Victor Hope, 2nd Marquess of Linlithgow
1936–1948: George John Gordon Bruce, 7th Lord Balfour of Burleigh
1948–1951: Christopher Addison, 1st Viscount Addison
1952–1960: Edmund Pery, 5th Earl of Limerick
1960–1961: Viscount Amory
1961–1965: Lord Shawcross
1965–1969: Viscount Amory
1969–1978: Hugh Percy, 10th Duke of Northumberland
1978–1982: Malcolm Shepherd, 2nd Baron Shepherd
1982–1990: George Jellicoe, 2nd Earl Jellicoe
1990–1998: Sir David Plastow
1998–2006: Sir Anthony Cleaver
2006–2012: Sir John Chisholm
2012–2018: Sir Donald Brydon

Chief executives

As Chief Executives (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 L. Gowans
1987–96: Sir Dai Rees
1996–2003: Professor Sir George Radda
2003–2007: Professor Sir Colin Blakemore
2007–2010: Professor Sir Leszek Borysiewicz
2010–2018: Professor Sir John Savill

Executive chairs

Following the formation of UK Research and Innovation, the executive chair role replaced the chief executive officer role, and has been held by:

2018–2022: Professor Fiona Watt
2022-2023 (interim post): Professor Sir John Iredale
2023-present: Professor Patrick Chinnery

MRC CEOs are normally automatically knighted.

Institutes, centres and units

The MRC has units, centres and institutes in the UK, with units addressing medical issues in The Gambia and Uganda managed by the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine.

The following is a list of the MRC's institutes, centres and units as of June 2024:

Bristol

MRC Integrative Epidemiology Unit, University of Bristol (IEU)

Cambridge

MRC Biostatistics Unit, Cambridge (BSU)
MRC Cognition and Brain Sciences Unit
MRC Epidemiology Unit, University of Cambridge (EU)
MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology (LMB)
MRC Metabolic Diseases Unit, University of Cambridge (MDU)
MRC Mitochondrial Biology Unit at the University of Cambridge
MRC Toxicology Unit at the University of Cambridge
Wellcome-MRC Cambridge Stem Cell Institute, University of Cambridge

Dundee

MRC Protein Phosphorylation and Ubiquitylation Unit at the University of Dundee

Edinburgh

Institute of Genetics and Cancer at the University of Edinburgh
MRC Centre for Reproductive Health, University of Edinburgh
MRC Human Genetics Unit at the University of Edinburgh

Exeter

MRC Centre for Medical Mycology at the University of Exeter

Glasgow

MRC & CSO Social and Public Health Sciences Unit, University of Glasgow (SPHSU)
MRC–University of Glasgow Centre for Virus Research

Harwell

Research Complex at Harwell

London

Centre for Environment and Health, Imperial College London
Francis Crick Institute (partnership between the MRC, Cancer Research UK, Imperial College London, King's College London, the Wellcome Trust and University College London)
MRC Centre for Neurodevelopmental Disorders (at King's College London)
MRC Centre for Molecular Bacteriology and Infection at Imperial College London
MRC Centre for Global Infectious Disease Analysis at Imperial College London
MRC Clinical Trials Unit UCL (CTU)
MRC Laboratory of Medical Sciences (at Imperial College London)
MRC Prion Unit at University College London
MRC Unit for Lifelong Health and Ageing, UCL (home of the National Survey of Health & Development
MRC Unit The Gambia at London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine
MRC/UVRI and LSHTM Uganda Research Unit

Oxford

MRC Brain Network Dynamics Unit (at the University of Oxford)
MRC Molecular Haematology Unit at the University of Oxford
MRC Translational Immune Discovery Unit at the University of Oxford
MRC Weatherall Institute of Molecular Medicine at the University of Oxford
Population Health Research Unit, University of Oxford

Southampton

Versus Arthritis/MRC Centre for Musculoskeletal Health and Work, University of Southampton
MRC Lifecourse Epidemiology Unit at the University of Southampton (LEU)

Multiple sites across UK

Health Data Research UK (central team in London)
MRC/Versus Arthritis Centre for Integrated research into Musculoskeletal Ageing, Liverpool/Sheffield/NCL (universities of Liverpool, Sheffield and Newcastle) (CIMA)
MRC/Versus Arthritis Centre for Musculoskeletal Ageing Research (CMAR), Birmingham/Nottingham (universities of Birmingham and Nottingham)
UK Dementia Research Institute (hub at UCL; centres hosted by universities of Cambridge, Cardiff, Edinburgh, Surrey, Imperial College London and King’s College London)

Facilities and resources

MRC facilities and resources include, as of June 2024: In the UK:

Better Methods, Better Research guidance portal
Central Laser facility at the Rutherford-Appleton Laboratory
Clinical trials data sharing: ReShare (at the UK Data Service)
Cohort Directory
Diamond Light Source (UK national synchrotron facility, Harwell)
Dementias Platform UK
Electron Bio-imaging Centre at the Diamond Light Source
Genomics England
Health Data Research Innovation Gateway
ISIS Neutron and Muon Source at the Rutherford-Appleton Laboratory
LifeArc
Mary Lyon Centre (UK national facility for mouse genetics, Harwell)
MRC Biomedical Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR) Centre
MRC Centre for Macaques
MRC scales (MRC dyspnoea scale; MRC muscle scale; neurological scle)
MRC-Wellcome Trust Human Developmental Biology Resource (HDBR)
Regulatory Support Centre
Research Complex at Harwell
UK Biobank
UK Stem Cell Bank
UK Clinical Research Collaboration (UKCRC) Tissue Directory

International collaborations:

Beamtime at the European Synchrotron Radiation Facility, France
Biobanking and Biomolecular Resources Research Infrastructure (European Research Infrastructure Consortium)
Institut Laue-Langevin neutron source, France
Instruct – European infrastructure for structural biology (European Research Infrastructure Consortium)