Medical Research Council (United Kingdom)

The Medical Research Council (MRC) is responsible for co-coordinating and funding medical research in the United Kingdom. It is part of United Kingdom Research and Innovation (UKRI), which came into operation 1 April 2018, and brings together the UK's seven research councils, Innovate UK and Research England. UK Research and Innovation is answerable to, although politically independent from, the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy.

Medical Research Council
Medical Research Council (MRC) logo
AbbreviationMRC
Formation1913
TypeNon-Departmental Government Body
PurposeCo-ordinating and funding medical research in the United Kingdom
Location
  • Medical Research Council

    2nd Floor David Phillips Building
    Polaris House
    North Star Avenue
    Swindon
    Wiltshire

    SN2 1FL
Region served
United Kingdom
Executive Chair
Fiona Watt
Chairman
Donald Brydon CBE
Main organ
MRC Council
Parent organisation
Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy
United Kingdom Research and Innovation
AffiliationsAHRC, BBSRC, EPSRC, ESRC, NERC, STFC, Innovate UK, Research England, UKSA, UKRI,
Websitemrc.ukri.org

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,[1] 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 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. In March 1933, MRC established the first scientific published medical patrol named British Journal of Clinical Research and Educational Advanced Medicine, as a periodical publication intended to further the progress of science, usually by reporting new research. It contain 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.[2][3] 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.[2][3] 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 Research[2][3] and was officially opened in June 2013.[4]

Notable research

Important work carried out under MRC auspices has included:

  • the identification of the dietary cause of rickets by Sir Edward Mellanby.[5] 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;[6]
  • 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;[7]
  • linkage of lung cancer to tobacco smoking by Sir Richard Doll and Sir Austin Bradford Hill in the British doctors study, published in 1956;[8]
  • the discovery of the structure of DNA by James D. Watson, Francis Crick, Rosalind Franklin and Professor Maurice Wilkins.[9] 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;[10]
  • the development of monoclonal antibodies[11] 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;[12]
  • 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,[13] 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[14] 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;[15] and
  • the finding that high quality surgery combined with a short course of radiotherapy can halve the rate of recurrence of colorectal cancer.[16]

Scientists associated with the MRC have received a total of 32 Nobel Prizes, all in either Physiology or Medicine or Chemistry[17]

Organisation and leadership

The MRC is one of seven Research Councils[18] and since 6 June 2009 has been answerable to, although politically independent from, the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy.[19] 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 governed by a council, 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, 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.[20]

Chief Executive Officers

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 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
  • 2018–present: Professor Fiona Watt[21]

MRC CEOs are normally automatically knighted.[22]

Chairmen
  • 1913–1916: The Rt Hon. Lord Moulton
  • 1916–1920: Major The Hon. Waldorf Astor
  • 1920–1924: The Viscount Goschen
  • 1924: The Rt Hon. Edward F.L. Wood
  • 1924–1929: The Rt Hon. the Earl of Balfour
  • 1929–1934: The Rt Hon. Viscount D'Abernon
  • 1934–1936: The Most Hon. The Marquess of Linlithgow
  • 1936–1948: Lord Balfour of Burleigh
  • 1948–1951: The Rt Hon. Viscount Addison
  • 1952–1960: The Earl of Limerick
  • 1960–1961: The Rt Hon. The Viscount Amory
  • 1961–1965: The Rt Hon. Lord Shawcross
  • 1965–1969: The Rt Hon. The Viscount Amory
  • 1969–1978: His Grace the Duke of Northumberland
  • 1978–1982: The Rt Hon. The Lord Shepherd
  • 1982–1990: The Rt Hon. The Earl Jellicoe
  • 1990–1998: Sir David Plastow
  • 1998–2006: Sir Anthony Cleaver
  • 2006–2012: Sir John Chisholm
  • 2012–present: Donald Brydon, CBE

Institutes, centres and units

The MRC has units, centres and institutes in the UK and one unit in each of The Gambia and Uganda.[23]

The following is a list of the MRC's current institutes, centres and units:[23]

Aberdeen

  • MRC Centre for Medical Mycology at the University of Aberdeen (MRC CMM)

Bristol

  • MRC Integrative Epidemiology Unit at the University of Bristol (MRC IEU)

Cambridge

Cardiff

  • MRC Centre for Neuropsychiatric Genetics and Genomics (based at Cardiff University)

Dundee

  • MRC Protein Phosphorylation and Ubiquitylation Unit at the University of Dundee) (MRC PPU)

Edinburgh

  • MRC Centre for Cognitive Ageing and Cognitive Epidemiology (MRC CCACE) (based at the University of Edinburgh)
  • MRC Centre for Genetics and Molecular Medicine (IGMM) (based at the University of Edinburgh)
  • MRC Centre for Regenerative Medicine (CRM) (based at the University of Edinburgh); Stuart Forbes, Director[24]
  • MRC Centre for Reproductive Health (CRH) (based at the University of Edinburgh)
  • MRC Human Genetics Unit at the University of Edinburgh (MRC HGU) (based at the University of Edinburgh)
  • The Scottish Collaboration for Public Health Research and Policy (SCPHRP) (based at the University of Edinburgh)

Entebbe

  • MRC/UVRI Uganda Research Unit on AIDS

Fajarra

  • MRC Unit, The Gambia

Glasgow

  • MRC/Chief Scientist Office Social and Public Health Sciences Unit, University of Glasgow (MRC/CSO SPHSU) (based at the University of Glasgow)
  • MRC/University of Glasgow Centre for Virus Research (MRC-UoG CVR) (based at the University of Glasgow)

Harwell

  • MRC Mammalian Genetics Unit (MRC MGU)
  • Mary Lyon Centre
  • Research Complex at Harwell (RCaH)

Leicester

  • MRC Toxicology Unit (based at the University of Leicester)

Liverpool

  • MRC/Arthritis Research UK Centre for Integrated Research into Muscular Aging
  • MRC Centre for Drug Safety Science (based at the University of Liverpool)

London

  • MRC Asthma UK Centre in Allergic Mechanisms of Asthma (based at King's College London)
  • MRC Laboratory for Molecular Cell Biology at UCL (MRC LMCB at UCL) (based at University College London)
  • MRC Centre for Developmental Neurobiology (based at King's College London)
  • MRC Centre for Molecular Bacteriology and Infection (based at Imperial College London)
  • MRC Centre for Neurodegenerative Research (based at King's College London)
  • MRC Centre for Neuromuscular Diseases (based at University College London)
  • MRC Centre for Outbreak Analysis and Modelling (based at Imperial College London)
  • MRC Centre for Transplantation (based at King's College London)
  • MRC London Institute of Medical Sciences (MRC LMS) (based at 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 Clinical Trials Unit at UCL (MRC CTU at UCL) (based at University College London)
  • Centre for Environment and Health (jointly based at King's College London and Imperial College London)
  • MRC International Nutrition Group (based at the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine)
  • MRC - National Institute for Medical Research Phenome Centre
  • MRC Prion Unit (based at University College London)
  • MRC Unit for Lifelong Health and Ageing at UCL (MRC LHA at UCL), home of the National Survey of Health & Development

Newcastle

  • MRC Centre for Brain Ageing and Vitality (MRC CBAV) (based at Newcastle University)

Oxford

  • CRUK/MRC Oxford Institute for Radiation Oncology (OIRO) (based at the University of Oxford)
  • MRC Brain Network Dynamics Unit at the University of Oxford
  • MRC Human Immunology Unit at the University of Oxford (MRC HIU)
  • MRC Molecular Haematology Unit at the University of Oxford (MRC MHU)
  • MRC Population Health Research Unit at the University of Oxford
  • MRC Weatherall Institute of Molecular Medicine (based at the University of Oxford)

Salisbury

  • Centre for Macaques

Southampton

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

Multiple across UK

  • Health Data Research UK (Central management at Wellcome Trust, London)
  • UK Dementia Research Institute (Central management at UCL)

Notes and references
  1. "Records created or inherited by the Medical Research Council". The National Archives. Retrieved 28 February 2012.
  2. "London 2012 legacy to include medical research centre". Times Higher Education. 1 August 2012. Retrieved 1 August 2012.
  3. "Legacy for anti-doping centre". BBC News. 1 August 2012. Retrieved 1 August 2012.
  4. "New centre will decipher roles of nature and nurture in human health". Imperial College News and Events. Imperial College London. Retrieved 13 November 2014.
  5. "Complete Dictionary of Scientific Biography: Mellanby, Edward". Encyclopedia.com. Retrieved 28 February 2012.
  6. "Social History of Medicine – Uses of a Pandemic: Forging the Identities of Influenza and Virus Research in Interwar Britain". Oxford University Press. 15 December 2011. Retrieved 28 February 2012.
  7. Bud, Robert (2007). Penicillin Triumph and Tragedy. Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-925406-4.
  8. Doll, R.; Peto, R.; Boreham, J.; Sutherland, I. (2005). "Mortality from cancer in relation to smoking: 50 years observations on British doctors". British Journal of Cancer. 92 (3): 426–429. doi:10.1038/sj.bjc.6602359. PMC 2362086. PMID 15668706.
  9. Torsten, Krude; Klug, Aaron (2004). Changing Science and Society (PDF). Cambridge University Press. pp. 3–26. ISBN 0-521-82378-1.
  10. "The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 2003". Nobelprize.org. Retrieved 28 February 2012.
  11. "Therapeutic Antibodies and the LMB". MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology. Archived from the original on 22 December 2012. Retrieved 28 February 2012.
  12. Centers for Disease Control (CDC) (1991). "Use of folic acid for prevention of spina bifida and other neural tube defects—1983–1991". MMWR. Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report. 40 (30): 513–516. PMID 2072886.
  13. Collins, R.; Armitage, J.; Parish, S.; Sleigh, P.; Peto, R.; Heart Protection Study Collaborative Group (2003). "MRC/BHF Heart Protection Study of cholesterol-lowering with simvastatin in 5963 people with diabetes: A randomised placebo-controlled trial". Lancet. 361 (9374): 2005–2016. doi:10.1016/s0140-6736(03)13636-7. PMID 12814710.
  14. "The Nobel Prize in Chemistry 2009". Nobelprize.org. Retrieved 28 February 2012.
  15. Loos, R. J. F. (2009). "Recent progress in the genetics of common obesity". British Journal of Clinical Pharmacology. 68 (6): 811–829. doi:10.1111/j.1365-2125.2009.03523.x. PMC 2810793. PMID 20002076.
  16. "Press release: Doctors more than halve local relapse of rectal cancer". http://insciences.org. 6 March 2009. Archived from the original on 2 May 2013. Retrieved 28 February 2012. External link in |publisher= (help)
  17. "Nobel Prize Winners". Medical Research Council. Archived from the original on 28 February 2012. Retrieved 28 February 2012.
  18. "Governance and structure - UK Research and Innovation". Research Councils UK. Retrieved 10 October 2017.
  19. "UKRI: Councils". Research Councils UK. Retrieved 28 February 2012.
  20. "MRC Council". Medical Research Council. Retrieved 28 February 2012.
  21. MRC, Medical Research Council (4 April 2018). "Professor Fiona Watt new Executive Chair of the MRC". mrc.ukri.org. Retrieved 4 April 2018.
  22. "Angelina Jolie made dame in thousand-strong Queen's birthday honours list". The Guardian. 13 June 2014. Retrieved 14 June 2014.
  23. "Units, centres and institutes". Medical Research Council. Retrieved 12 April 2018.
  24. "Liver Study Offers Insights into Hard-to-treat Diseases" (Press release). University of Edinburgh. 9 March 2018. Retrieved 9 March 2018 – via Drug Discovery & Development.

Further reading
  • Austoker, Joan, and Linda Bryder, eds. Historical perspectives on the role of the MRC: essays in the history of the Medical Research Council of the United Kingdom and its predecessor, the Medical Research Committee, 1913–1953 (Oxford UP, 1989)
  • Fisher D. "The Rockefeller Foundation and the Development of Scientific Medicine in Britain" Minerva (1987) 16#1, 20–41.
  • Sussex, Jon, et al. "Quantifying the economic impact of government and charity funding of medical research on private research and development funding in the United Kingdom." BMC Medicine 14#1 (2016): 1+
  • Viergever, Roderik F., and Thom CC Hendriks. "The 10 largest public and philanthropic funders of health research in the world: what they fund and how they distribute their funds." Health Research Policy and Systems 14#1 (2016): 1.
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