network News from the Medical Research Council Winter 2012/13
years of life-changing discoveries
A DNA pioneer’s lab, 1958 Take a look around Rosalind Franklin’s work space.
Ten decades, ten life-changing achievements Explore our Centenary timeline pull-out and find out what we’ve got planned for our 100th birthday.
Network can also be downloaded as a PDF at: www.mrc.ac.uk/network CONTENTS NEWS comment from NEWS £7m MRC-AstraZeneca £7m MRC-AstraZeneca projects funded 3 Dog study noses out a way to regenerate spinal cord 4 John projects funded
Savill Fifteen research projects on Alzheimer’s, cancer and rare LATEST DISCOVERIES chief Executive diseases are now underway with £7 million funding provided under the MRC’s award-winning collaboration A sunnier outlook for TB patients 20 When the Medical Research Committee and Advisory Council with AstraZeneca. Stem cells offer hope for deafness 21 was established in 1913, its Under the collaboration, announced by the Prime Minister in members could barely have December 2011, AstraZeneca made 22 of its chemical compounds imagined the MRC in 2013. We available free-of-charge to academic researchers, who were spent £759.4 million on medical encouraged to apply for MRC funding to use them for research and research in 2011/12, have 56 institutes, units and centres and accelerate the search for new treatments. PEOPLE we support around 5,700 research staff. Our laboratories are home The partnership recently won an award from pharmaceutical Award for infant pneumococcus research 22 to some of the most sophisticated equipment in the world, intelligence company SCRIP for the Best Partnership Alliance 2012, and and every year our scientists make discoveries that change has served as a model for other innovative alliances, including a similar From the archive 23 the lives of patients with a wide range of diseases and deal between the US National Institutes of Health and industry. complaints. Not bad for an organisation that started with a budget of £4m in today’s money. Scientists will use the compounds to study a broad range of conditions CASE STUDY: Heartburn drug from common diseases like Alzheimer’s and lung disease through to But the committee members would have been familiar rarer conditions such as motor neuron disease and muscular coughs up a new use FUNDING with the idea of discoveries. As early in our history as dystrophies. Eight projects will involve clinical trials of potential new 1916 Edward Mellanby deduced that a lack of Vitamin D Developing tomorrow’s African research leaders 24 therapies, and seven will focus on early-stage research. Scientists from the University of Manchester, led by Dr Jacky Smith, causes rickets. This was followed by many other significant will carry out a small clinical trial of a new treatment for chronic achievements, such as the discovery of the flu virus in AstraZeneca had conducted early trials of the compounds and cough, a condition which affects up to 23 per cent of the population. EU neurodegenerative disease research funding 25 1933, working out the structure of DNA in 1953 and many validated their use for future research, but had put them on hold for others. Turn to page 13 to see a timeline of MRC-funded achievements and discoveries from the past 10 decades. further development. This collaboration extends the possible Previous work by Dr Smith’s team has shown that in around half of application of these compounds for use in new and emerging areas. these patients, the cough reflex is triggered by acid reflux, where the But we’re not just looking at the past. Given what MRC stomach contents escape back up into the oesophagus. FEATURES research has achieved in the past 100 years, what might it Professor Patrick Johnston, Chair of the MRC’s Translational Research achieve in the next 100? One clue could be in the nascent Group, said: “Thanks to the generosity of AstraZeneca, UK scientists This project will study an AstraZeneca compound called a GABA-B Studying blindness? There’s an app for that 8 field of synthetic biology — which has the potential to will be able to carry out medical research that otherwise may never receptor agonist, which was not found to be helpful in patients with change the way that biological systems work — and in have been possible. Not only will this bring benefits for patients in the heartburn who were already taking acid-blocking treatments, but capturing that power to target disease. You can read more form of more effective medicines and a better understanding of which may improve cough triggered by acid reflux. Working Life: Dr Alex Jeans, pathologist and about synthetic biology in Professor Jason Chin’s opinion Centenary Award holder 10 article on page 26. disease, but it has also allowed academic researchers to forge new partnerships with industry, which will give rise to future collaboration Healthy volunteers and chronic cough patients will be monitored MRC Centenary timeline and calendar pull-out 12 To mark the Centenary, I plan to visit every city where we across the life sciences sector.” using a small device worn around the waist which records coughing have a unit or institute in the space of a week. Between the sounds over 24 hours. If the GABA-B receptor agonist relieves chronic 20 and 26 June — which marks exactly 100 years to the My Work Space: Rosalind Franklin’s laboratory, 1958 18 You can read about one of the funded projects in the case cough, the researchers will aim to carry out larger clinical trials. day since the MRC was established on 20 June 1913 — I’ll study box opposite. be visiting the research establishments where much of the Opinion: 100 years from now MRC’s important work is done and meeting the scientists Professor Jason Chin on synthetic biology 26 behind our past, present and future discoveries. Sir John Savill MRC Chief Executive
MRCNetwork | 3 NEWS The MRC First SME-university awards made at 1913-2013 by £180m Biomedical Catalyst fund Welcome to the Centenary edition of Network. Our 100th birthday marks a great opportunity to reflect on just how far the MRC has come from its origins in the 1911 National Insurance Act Research projects on the early diagnosis of dementia and 10 projects led by academic institutions will evaluate the technical and subsequent formalisation as the Medical Research Committee and Advisory Council by the and a universal flu vaccine are among 32 industry-academic feasibility of their ideas, establish proof of concept or demonstrate the government two years later. collaborative projects to receive grant awards clinical effectiveness of their innovative technologies. under the Government-backed Biomedical Catalyst From the discovery of penicillin and MRI to HIV drug trials and bowel cancer screening tests, the MRC has made a funding programme. Some of the funded projects include: a digital healthcare system that major impact on human health; inspiring scientific endeavour, collaboration and success in biotechnology, creating will provide early diagnosis of dementia; a universal flu vaccine that life-saving drugs and delivering research that drives modern healthcare policy. A total of £39 million has been awarded to the projects under the could protect against all known strains of the virus; and a targeted scheme, which aims to speed translation of scientific ideas into therapy for the treatment of prostate cancer. In this edition, we unite the past, present and future of medical research to show you how the MRC continues to commercial propositions, for the greater benefit of patients. anticipate the medical needs of people across the globe and inspires, funds and nurtures the best researchers and David Willetts, Minister for Universities and Science, said: “Britain is in a the most promising science. These are the first substantial awards made from the £180m global race today and this £39m investment will help keep us at the programme of public funding, which is jointly managed by the very forefront of life sciences by supporting some of our most Technology Strategy Board and the MRC. innovative SMEs and universities. It will help take excellent ideas through to market, driving growth and helping patients benefit from Twenty-two projects led by small- to medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) the very latest technologies and treatments.” National stem cell resource The Wellcome Trust and the MRC have invested £12.75m to create a catalogue of high-quality adult stem cells for researchers who use such cells to study the effects of our genes on health and disease.
The Human Induced Pluripotent Stem Cell Initiative (HIPSCI) will generate a type of adult stem cell called induced pluripotent stem cells Dog study noses out a way to regenerate spinal cord (iPS cells) from healthy volunteers and patient groups. Using sophisticated techniques, New research has shown it is possible to restore co-ordinated limb Read the full story at www.mrc.ac.uk/Newspublications and watch a video researchers will analyse the cells and movement in dogs with severe spinal cord injury. Scientists from the MRC’s of Jasper on a treadmill before and after his treatment at: characterise how they respond Regenerative Medicine Centre teamed up with vets from Cambridge www.youtube.com/watch?v=yY6dGHROgmM&feature=youtu.be. to outside stimuli and develop University to carry out a trial using a unique type of cell found in the noses into specialised cell types. of dogs to regenerate the damaged part of the animals’ spines. HIPSCI will help fill gaps in our The 34 pet dogs (including Jasper, pictured before the treatment) had all knowledge about the biological suffered severe spinal cord injury over a year before, and were unable to properties of these cells and use their back legs to walk or to feel pain in their hindquarters. By the end how scientists can best of the study, dogs which had received the treatment were able to move manipulate them to accurately previously paralysed hind limbs and co-ordinate the movement with their model human disease. It will front legs. also lay the foundations to create a new iPS The researchers are cautiously optimistic that the work could have a future cell bank. role in the treatment of human patients with similar injuries if used alongside other treatments.
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Explore our beginnings To mark our Centenary we’ve Dawkins opens new MRC centre republished our very first Annual Report, from 1914, in Birmingham on our centenary website. Read about some of the November saw The Selfish Gene author Sir Richard Dawkins officially MRC’s first discoveries and open the MRC-Arthritis Research UK Centre for Musculoskeletal find out what the burning Ageing in Birmingham. research questions of the day were as World War I The centre, led by Professor Janet Lord, is a collaborative research broke out. Also available are venture between Birmingham and Nottingham Universities. Exercise, extracts from Half a Century diet and motivational psychology research will be used to of Medical Research, Volume understand how ageing results in loss of musculoskeletal function 1, a 1987 biography of the and therefore how we can tackle age-related musculoskeletal decline MRC written by A and disease. Landsborough Thomson. Blindness article wins 2012 www.centenary.mrc.ac.uk Max Perutz Award
The MRC Max Perutz Science Writing Award 2012 was won by Dr Andrew Bastawrous, an MRC Research Fellow at the International Trials in developing countries: Centre for Eye Health at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine. right or wrong? Chosen from over a hundred entries, Andrew’s winning article — A Nervous Encounter The MRC Clinical Trials Unit’s Professor Diana Gibb helped judge the Studying blindness – there’s an App for that — was promoted in international final of the Debating Matters competition in October Metro newspaper in September. A collaboration between scientists at which saw UK and Indian teams lock horns over the ethics of clinical the MRC Anatomical Neuropharmacology trials in developing countries. Arguing in favour of such trials, students Announcing the award, Professor Sir John Savill described Andrew’s Unit in Oxford and artists on the Art and from Our Lady of the Missions School in Kolkata, India, triumphed over article as “interesting and very 21st century”, noting that he did a Science MA course at Central St Martins the team from Graveney School in London. great job of articulating the promise of his research. has produced a series of intriguing and inspirational new artworks. Professor Gibb, who leads major trials in developing countries, said the Read Andrew’s winning article on page 8. Indian team responded well to questions about informed consent for The artworks, which formed an illiterate poor people in India: “They reminded the audience that exhibition called A Nervous Encounter consent processes for trials can - and frequently are - made culturally at Oxford’s Old Fire Station in October, appropriate through community involvement and sensitisation and draw on the creative process involved use of aids such as ‘the talking book’. in both science and art. New Director for Centre for To meet the artists and scientists Reproductive Health involved in the project and to enjoy the full range of art created, go to Professor Jeffrey Pollard has been appointed Director of the MRC http://blog.nervousencounter.com Centre for Reproductive Health at the University of Edinburgh (MRC CRH). He formerly directed the Centre for the Study of Reproductive Biology and Women’s Health at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine in New York, where he held the Louis Goldstein Swan Chair in Women’s Cancer Research.
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of heavy and fragile equipment) to remote villages, many of which and can be shared with specialists anywhere in the world to provide have no road access or electricity supply, is extremely challenging yet expert diagnosis and treatment plans in even the most remote Studying blindness? absolutely vital if provision to prevent needless blindness is to be put locations. Individuals are locatable on an interactive Google Map, and in place. can be retraced and contacted to arrange treatment or follow up.
There’s an app for that As I pondered and planned for the challenges that lay ahead, I’ve had It is important to check the new device works and doesn’t miss people the continual thought that there must be an easier way to gather this who need help. To see how accurate the new device is, I will test the information, a way that is less expensive and resource hungry, and phone on the same 5,000 individuals undergoing the detailed The 2012 MRC Max Perutz Science Writing Award was Everything is hazy; I can’t even see my glasses. I keep my eyes closed; therefore could be used on a much wider scale. Then it dawned on me examinations that use the gold-standard, state-of-the-art hospital won by MRC Research Fellow Dr Andrew Bastawrous it doesn’t seem to make much difference opening them. My hand feels … I use my smartphone for everything nowadays, from checking train equipment. We will then be able to compare the two methods clumsily around the bedside table, knocking my mobile phone to the times, navigating in the car, taking and sharing photos, not to mention and see how many of the study population we would have from the International Centre for Eye Health at the floor, and eventually I come across my glasses. On they go, and I can using it as a phone and speaking to people. correctly picked up as having sight loss (as well as the reasons London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine. see again. Those brief few seconds as I awake each morning serve as a why) and if we would have missed anyone. Here we publish his winning article and find out how continual reminder of how much I value my sight. This has led me to develop a set of gadgets and applications making it possible to use a modified smartphone (I call it the ‘Eye Phone’) to At one-fiftieth of the price and with only one non-specialist Andrew’s research to develop a smartphone app to Many people fear losing their sight more than any other sense. I am measure someone’s vision; check their refractive error (glasses needed to perform the test, the examiner can go to the study blindness in developing countries is progressing. fortunate to have perfect vision when wearing corrective glasses or prescription); take photos of the back of the eye for diseases such as patient rather than the patient waiting for someone who contact lenses, and privileged to be in a profession (ophthalmology) diabetic retinopathy, macula degeneration and glaucoma; and check might never come. It could be that those in remote and where centuries of research and practice have brought us to a point for the presence of a cataract. All the data is then stored on the phone resource-poor places, silently losing their sight, could where much of blindness is curable or preventable. There is no feeling be a text message away from help. like it: when the eye patch comes off someone who hasn’t seen for years, witnessing their sheer wonder as they take in their surroundings and their anticipation to see faces that have become voices and places that have become memories. The examiner can go to the patient rather
Incredibly, despite 80 per cent of blindness being curable or preventable, around 285 million people in the world are visually than the patient waiting for someone impaired. The majority of these people live in developing countries and have no access to suitable healthcare. Africa has the greatest disparity in numbers needing treatment and specialists available to who might never come. provide it. In the UK we have 3,600 ophthalmologists compared with only 86 in Kenya, where I will be moving later this year.
There are many factors that can lead to blindness, and many complexities that lead to a society unable to deal with the Max Perutz Award: What happened next? burden that comes with a disability. Although each individual goes blind very much alone, there are shared stories and Soon after scooping the Max Perutz Science Writing Award, Andrew Serendipitously, Ketan Shah, who won second prize in the Max Perutz features, the understanding of which can enable prevention or left the UK for Kenya to set up his project to diagnose and map competition, has kindly donated some of his own prize money towards access to curative treatment. Some of the major questions blindness in local the Eye Phone after finding out that Andrew is testing his app in the include asking how many people are blind? Who are they? populations, using both same small town, Nakuru, where Ketan’s father was born. Where do they live? Why are they blind? existing methods and his new Eye Phone app. Meanwhile, Andrew’s wife Madeleine, who is also in Kenya, has set up a Gathering this type of information is known as epidemiological competition with local schools in Nakuru based around baking healthy research, a method of describing the characteristics of a Andrew has decided to foods. The prize will be free eye surgery for 22 people in the Eye Phone population. This information is then used to inform policy-makers use his £1,500 prize project who are most in need. and health workers to benefit individuals on a large scale. money to fund free eye surgery for patients he Follow Andrew and Madeleine’s progress via their blog at Performing such a study can be a logistical nightmare, as well as and his research team https://toddleradventure.wordpress.com and learn more about how extremely time consuming and expensive. My study involves the find as part of his study. the Eye Phone app became a reality in Andrew’s post for our own blog retracing and examination of 5,000 people across a district in Kenya at www.insight.mrc.ac.uk/2012/10/11/serendipity-in-science. You can known as Nakuru. Taking what is effectively a fully staffed eye hospital also read Ketan’s highly commended Max Perutz article, I am the drug, (a team of 15 people), fully equipped (with more than £100,000 worth Andrew, Madeleine and their son, Lucas, in Kenya on our blog at www.insight.mrc.ac.uk/2012/10/02/i-am-the-drug
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Dr Alex Jeans, Centenary Award Holder and MRC Clinician Scientist Fellow, University of Oxford.
practice. I’m looking at how the synapse – the structure that allows To mark our 100th birthday we’ve launched the MRC nerve cells to communicate with each other – goes wrong Centenary Awards, special funding to accelerate the in Parkinson’s disease. research and careers of our early-career scientists. Alex Clinical practice allows you to do something that’s measurably, explains how his award has given him the time and tangibly useful each day, whereas in research you can go for months resources to pursue research into Alzheimer’s disease and months with no obvious progress. That can be frustrating, so it’s alongside his main career as a pathologist. wonderful to combine these two things where you have the advantages of one to mitigate the occasional disappointments of the other.
Career in brief: Getting the MRC Centenary Award has been brilliant because it’s • Trained in medicine allowed me to expand my fellowship research, which concentrated • Specialised in neuropathology solely on Parkinson’s disease, to apply a similar approach to Alzheimer’s • MRC Clinical Scientist Fellowship to investigate Parkinson’s disease Using disease too.
When I say I’m a pathologist most people think that I just do autopsies, In a lot of ways, Alzheimer’s is a neglected field. We only have one type but that’s only about five per cent of my work. Essentially the job is of drug in current clinical use, which just slows down the course of the fluorescent about diagnosing diseases in samples from living patients. So we’ll disease by a few months. The big challenge is that we don’t know why get a slide of a patient’s tissue sample from the lab, theorise what the the nerve cells die in Alzheimer’s disease, so we don’t have anything disease process might be and then run a series of tests to find out. that can fundamentally change the course of the disease. Thanks to As a neuropathologist, the bulk of my work involves diagnosing my Centenary Award I’m now able to devote all my time to Alzheimer’s probes I can tumours, but I might see any disease of the nervous system that disease research for a while and make a big push to try and complete can be biopsied. the story about synaptic dysfunction. I hope that I’ll be able to submit my findings for publication within the nine-month timescale of The highlight of the pathologist’s week is probably the big this award. actually see Multi-Disciplinary Team meeting where all patient cases are discussed in more detail among doctors from different specialisations – radiologists, I love doing research, and I’ve also developed a bit of a techy feel surgeons and so on. It’s one of the few times when we pathologists get for it too. The techniques we use are really cool. For example, using the synapses to be centre stage. The rest of the team will have something they fluorescent probes I can actually see the synapses between rat neurons need to treat and they’ll ask you what it is, and what you tell them will working in real time, watching the synaptic vesicles – the packages of strongly guide what they do and the approach they’ll take – chemicals that transmit nerve impulses – glowing brighter as they so it’s a big responsibility. release their contents. I get a real thrill when I see the images that between rat I’ve acquired. Occasionally I’ll be asked to diagnose a sample during brain surgery when a surgeon’s found a lesion and needs to know what it is as soon I tend to start my working day at about 8:30am after I’ve taken my as possible. There’s a technique we can use to try and get an answer eldest child to school, and I leave around 7pm. I’m strict about making neurons back within 20 minutes. I have actually found myself running down sure that I do several hours of experiments each day and don’t get hospital corridors to theatre before when a surgeon has been really sucked into too much of the administrative work. It can be a long day, desperate for an answer. but I’m lucky in that I live within walking distance of work so I don’t have to waste time on a commute and I’m usually home in time to working in From a young age I was one of those people who always wanted a put the children to bed. bit more detail, and to try to understand what was happening fundamentally. That’s why I was attracted to pathology – it’s very I’d say my ambition is to continue to enjoy my career as much as real time close to science and basic biology, but you also get to be involved in I am doing now, which will mean continuing to combine clinical and patient care. academic work. As long as I have the money and opportunities to do that I’ll be happy. I’m halfway through an MRC Clinician Scientist Fellowship which has given me the chance to combine academic research and clinical Alex has also written about his Centenary Award research for the MRC’s blog at: www.insight.mrc.ac.uk/2012/10/09/spare-time-science MRC centenary events 2013
During 2013 we’ll be celebrating 100 years of life-changing discoveries MRC-funded research continues to have a huge impact on health both TIMELINE • MRC Centenary website • Brighton Science Festival • a centenary of amplified music • and taking time to reflect on our scientists’ many achievements in in the UK and worldwide as well as on our economy and society. MRC Millennium Medal • Medical Research Live • Launch of Suffrage Science • Oxfordshire Science medical research, acknowledging those who have supported us along Throughout 2013 we’ll be running exciting activities and events to Festival • Big Bang Science Fair • Edinburgh International Science Festival • The Great Egg Hunt • the way and looking forward to what medical research will deliver in showcase our research successes and collaborations. Full information Cambridge Science Festival • opening of MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology building • Max the future. on all these activities is available on our centenary web pages at Perutz • Cheltenham Science Festival • MRC Festival of Research • Science Open Doors • Royal www.centenary.mrc.ac.uk Society Summer Festival of Science • British Science Association Festival of Science • Dundee Science Festival • MRC Community Event
Month Date Event April 4 – 14 Strictly Science, an interactive live-lab installation showcasing the past, present and future of medical research opens in the foyer of Imperial College London. January 2 MRC Centenary website goes live, including a timeline exploring 100 years of MRC achievements.
More stories will be added throughout the centenary year. May tbc Official opening of the new MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology building - our £200m new
tbc Key figures in the UK submit their ideas for what they think the most important medical advance state-of-the-art research facility in Cambridge. has been over the past 100 years, and look forward to see what medical discoveries the next tbc Centenary Max Perutz Science Writing Award competition opens. 100 years could bring. June 10 - 16 Cheltenham Science Festival – MRC scientists to host activities in a Centenary tent. February 16 - 17 Brighton Science Festival – various events being run by MRC scientists. 15 – 16 MRC Festival of Research – an interactive exhibition at the Science Museum in London tbc A healthcare revolution in the making online exhibition launched, telling the story of Cesar Milstein’s 20 - 26 development of monoclonal antibodies. Science Open Doors: a week of open days with hands-on activities for the public at MRC centres, units and institutes across the UK. 27 Centenary year MRC Millennium Medal winner announced by Rt Hon Dr Vince Cable at a House of tbc Commons event. Medical Research Live* - The BBC Lab UK Great British Sleep Survey launched: take part in this survey which aims to discover whether age, lifestyle or other factors affect our sleep patterns. tbc Medical Research Live*- A century of amplified music: how does leisure noise affect hearing? An online interactive research project, run by the MRC Institute of Hearing Research. July 3 - 8 Royal Society Summer Festival of Science, London – exhibit on viruses by Dr Leo James of the MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology (tbc). March 8 Launch of Suffrage Science – a London-based sequel project to promote women in science through a publication, heirloom scheme, pop-up exhibition and debate. August 7 - 12 British Science Association Festival of Science, Newcastle – various events being run by MRC scientists. 9 - 24 Oxfordshire Science Festival – various events being run by MRC scientists. September tbc 11 - 24 Cambridge Science Festival - various events being run by MRC scientists. Centenary Max Perutz Science Writing Awards Ceremony to be held at the Science Museum, London (tbc). 14 - 17 Big Bang Science Fair, London – various events being run by MRC scientists. October 23 - 7 April Edinburgh International Science Festival - the MRC’s Mini Scientists activity will run at the City Arts tbc MRC e-health research event as part of Imperial College’s Fringe Programme. Centre, plus talks for adults by MRC funded scientists: Picturing Your Brain by Dr Rustam Al-Shahi November 3 - 18 Dundee Science Festival - various events being run by MRC scientists. Salman, Aspirin a day? by Dr Lesley Stark and What zebrafish stripes tell us about skin cancer by Dr Liz Patton. tbc MRC Community Events to be held in Oxford, Cambridge, London and Scotland.
29 Medical Research Live* - The Great Egg Hunt launched: contribute to a neuroscience study on brain circuitry by playing a video game based on how nematode worms lay their eggs. * The Medical Research Foundation is generously supporting the MRC Centenary ‘Medical Research Live’ events. www.mrc.ac.uk/mrf 208 width 208 width 100 years of life-changing discoveries www.centenary.mrc.ac.uk
1929 - Nobel for discovery 1946 – First ever British cohort 1960s - Clinical trials of 1995 - Deep brain stimulation treatment One hundred years ago, a fledgling that vitamins are important study begins radiotherapy for cancer for Parkinson’s disease for growth and health The MRC-funded National Survey of Health and MRC scientists started in-depth Oxford neurosurgeon Professor medical research committee held Development study has followed the lives of a group trials in the 1960s to test Tipu Aziz discovered that Studying the diet of rats, of people born in one particular week in 1946 for 67 radiotherapy, the controlled electrically stimulating a part Sir Frederick Gowland Hopkins years. Over six decades it has taught us much about use of high energy X-rays, as of the brain called the its first meeting. Set up to oversee a found that they grew well only if how growth, health and environment in early life a treatment for cancer. Today pedunculopontine nucleus in he supplemented their diet with affect risk of disease in adulthood. around four in ten cancer primates relieved the tremor milk, which led him to discover national fund for medical research patients have radiotherapy. symptoms experienced by essential nutrients for growth and We have produced a timeline Parkinson’s disease patients. health - now known as vitamins. showing many more MRC discoveries into tuberculosis, it later evolved This technique has since and stories from the past century which Sir Frederick won a Nobel Prize for benefited over 30,000 patients will be added to throughout 2013. his discovery. into the Medical Research Council. worldwide who do not respond To see it, visit our centenary web pages 1973 – MRI invented to drug treatment. at www.centenary.mrc.ac.uk Over the past century, our scientists 1933 - Discovery of the flu virus Sir Peter Mansfield devised a way to harness cells’ natural magnetic properties to produce images of soft tissues in humans, leading to the have made thousands of discoveries MRC scientists proved that flu is caused development of magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). Today, all major UK 2009 – Saving more HIV patients lives in Africa by a virus, rather than a bacterium, after hospitals have whole-body MRI scanners. which have benefited scientific studying ferrets in their laboratory which A major trial carried out in rural Africa showed that more HIV had caught the illness. 1984 – DNA fingerprinting invented patients could be treated safely and effectively for no additional knowledge and human health across cost by focusing funding on anti-retroviral therapy (ART) monitored by trained field workers rather than on expensive DNA fingerprinting, invented blood tests. the globe. by Sir Alec Jeffreys at the University of Leicester, can 1953 - Structure of reveal distinctive patterns of DNA DNA unravelled fragments that are unique in 1916 - Rickets is caused everyone apart from identical by a lack of Vitamin D Work by James Watson, Francis Crick, twins. The technique is now used Maurice Wilkins and Rosalind Franklin for medicine, forensic science Sir Edward Mellanby discovered that rickets, revealed that the molecular structure of and paternity testing. a deforming and painful childhood bone DNA is a double helix. DNA encodes disease, is caused by lack of vitamin D and genetic information and transmits it can be treated with cod liver oil. from one generation to the next.
1913 1920 1930 1940 1950 1960 1970 1980 1990 2000 2013
14 | MRCNetwork MRCNetwork | 17 208 width MY WORK SPACE Rosalind Franklin’s Laboratory In the early 1950s, at the MRC Biophysics Unit at King’s College London, Rosalind Franklin obtained X-ray diffraction images from DNA which made a critical contribution to Watson and Crick’s discovery of the molecule’s double helix structure. Later, with further MRC funding, she moved on to Birkbeck College and these photographs of her lab there were taken just a week after her death in 1958 by John Finch, then her student. He told Sarah Harrop what we can see, and what it was like to work with this pioneer of biomedical science.
Exterior of 22 Torrington Square The lab you can see in these pictures was on the first floor of this Rosalind Elsie Franklin, Elliot & Fry Bottles © National Portrait Gallery building, 22 Torrington Square. On the next floor up was the flat of J D These are solutions, various acids, buffer solutions and salts for general Bernal, a well known communist and the head of our lab. He would poke biochemical research. The little bottles are probably mercury or platinum salts – his head around the door of our room from time to time and ask “is she attached these heavy metal atoms to virus samples. The aim of that was to there anything new?” and if there wasn’t anything outstanding to report locate the heavy atoms on the virus by looking at changes in the X-ray pictures. he’d immediately start backing out of the door. Bernal had lots of From that you could work out, a bit by trial and error at that stage, information visitors, both Bloomsbury locals and communists. Picasso even visited about the virus’s structure. the flat and drew a mural on the wall of his sitting room. When the building was demolished, the mural was very carefully preserved [it now belongs to the Wellcome Collection].
Dessicator Rosalind would have used this for making specimens for her X-ray diffraction studies. She was working on determining the structure of a simple virus called Light Box Tobacco Mosaic Virus to gain clues about the structures of similar viruses that This is for looking at X-ray films she’d developed. The exposures were cause diseases in people. So she would purify the virus specimen in a centrifuge quite long, they’d take at least 24 hours. The X-ray tube was in the and then samples would be concentrated down and dried off using this basement a couple of floors down so she’d take the films, develop, dessicator. It’s got a pipe coming out of the top of it, connected to a water pump wash and dry them and then come back up to her room to look at them that empties into the sink. So then she’d then have a concentrated sample that on this. she could load into the X-ray camera to make the X-ray diffraction images which gave clues about the viruses’ structures.
Model pieces These spindly bits and pieces looks like the makings of a model of DNA. Cushion Her work on DNA had been done a few years earlier at the MRC Rosalind worked right up until the week before she died, at the tragically young Biophysics Unit, following on from work by Maurice Wilkins. When she age of 37, from cancer. She brought this in because she was in some pain left, her supervisor Professor Randall told her she wasn’t to do any more towards the end of her life and this helped make her more comfortable. When I work on it and there was some bad feeling between them. But she was took these photos, her room was just as she’d left it. I remember her as a very quite stoical about it all. Her former student at King’s, Raymond Gosling strong willed and focused person. She didn’t socialise an awful lot in the lab, but [who famously showed Wilkins, Crick and Watson his and Rosalind’s she was an inspiring supervisor. When we had results she’d be interested in X-ray diffraction images of DNA without her knowledge] still used to seeing them and would make comments on what I should do next. One hears of come to the lab at Torrington Square to discuss things with her and supervisors who never go near the students unless they’ve got some hard results, they wrote some of their DNA papers afterwards from this room. but Rosalind wasn’t like that. I remember her being extremely well organised and Watson and Crick also came to visit as they were interested in Rosalind’s keen on getting the work done, on reaching outcomes. work on Tobacco Mosaic Virus . At that time, the discovery of the double helix structure of DNA hadn’t made a terrific impression on the scientific community; full recognition of its significance came much later, after Rosalind had died. Read about many more of the MRC’s discoveries from the past LATEST discoveries 100 years in our Centenary Timeline at www.centenary.mrc.ac.uk
A sunnier outlook for Most baby boomers ‘under the Stem cells offer hope Suicide increase blamed on
TB patients doctor’ at retirement for deafness impact of recession
In the era before antibiotics were available, tuberculosis (TB) Most post-war ‘baby boomers’ have had at least one medical Researchers from the University of Sheffield have found a way to The impact of the economic recession has led to over 1,000 people patients were often sent away to sunnier climes to soak up the condition requiring regular GP visits in the run-up to retirement, cure a common form of deafness using human embryonic stem cells. in England committing suicide, new analysis part-funded by the healing rays of the sun. New research has shown for the first according to the latest findings from the MRC National Survey of MRC suggests. time how and why this might have been effective. Health and Development. With funding from the MRC and Action on Hearing Loss, the scientists developed a way to turn human embryonic stem cells into Researchers from the universities of Liverpool and Cambridge and A clinical trial in 95 patients on antibiotics, around half of whom Researchers looked at the prevalence of 15 common clinical cells of the ear’s cochlear nerve. They then transplanted the cells into the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine tested the received vitamin D supplements, showed that high doses of disorders in a group of 2,661 men and women aged 60 to 64. deaf gerbils and on average 46 per cent of their hearing range was theory that English regions hardest hit by unemployment have also vitamin D given alongside antibiotic treatment appear to help restored by the end of the study. seen the largest rise in suicides. TB patients recover faster. Despite this generation being the first to enjoy the lifelong benefits of the NHS and the welfare state, the average baby boomer had two The hearing loss symptoms that the gerbils in the study had are The national suicide rate had been steadily declining for 20 years Analysis of markers of inflammation in the patients’ blood showed medical conditions at retirement age. Half had hypertension, a third similar to a human condition called auditory neuropathy, in which before the recession began. But, between 2008 and 2010, 846 more that high doses of the vitamin, which our bodies produce when obesity, a quarter high cholesterol and a quarter had diabetes or there is a problem with the connection between the hair cells of the men and 155 more women ended their life than would have been we are exposed to sunlight, dampened the body’s inflammatory were at high risk of developing it. ear and the brain. It’s the cause of deafness in up to 15 per cent of expected had the downward trend continued. The rate among men response to infection. This allowed patients to recover faster, with those with profound hearing loss across the world. rose by 1.4 per cent for every 10 per cent increase in unemployment. less damage to their lungs. The results also suggest that vitamin D With the proportion of over 65s in the population set to rise by a might help patients recover better from other lung infections such third by 2033, the findings could have important implications for the Lead scientist Dr Marcelo Rivolta explained: “We now have a method Suicide rates for 93 areas held by the National Clinical and Health as pneumonia. NHS and social services in the coming decades. to produce human cochlear sensory cells that we could use to Outcomes database were studied, along with data on changes in develop new drugs and treatments, and to study the function of unemployment from the Office of National Statistics. The research was led by scientists from Queen Mary, University Professor Diana Kuh, Director of the MRC Unit for Lifelong Health genes. And more importantly, we have the proof-of-concept of London (QMUL) and the MRC National Institute for Medical and Ageing, said: “The good news is that the risk of developing that human stem cells could be used to repair the damaged ear.” Lead author Ben Barr of Liverpool University explained: “While the Research. Lead researcher Dr Adrian Martineau of QMUL explains: these conditions can be reduced by making simple lifestyle changes study doesn’t prove the recession is the direct cause of the rise in “Inflammatory responses in TB patients can cause tissue damage at a young age. By targeting the most at-risk individuals early on Published online at www.nature.com, September 2012 suicides, its consistency with previous research shows this is likely.” leading to the development of cavities in the lung. If we can help in life – before they reach middle age – we may be able to reduce these cavities to heal more quickly, then patients should be the pressure on the health service and, more importantly, save lives.” Published online at www.bmj.com, August 2012 infectious for a shorter period of time, and they may also suffer less lung damage.” Published online at www.plosone.org, September 2012
The team now plans to assess different doses and forms of vitamin D in TB patients to see if this has an even more beneficial effect. 100 years: Britain’s oldest cohort study 100 years: Stem cell research
Published online at www.pnas.org, September 2012 The MRC’s pioneering National Survey of Health and Development The MRC has supported pioneering stem cell research since the field was the first British birth cohort study and follows a group of people first emerged and remains at the forefront of regenerative medicine. born in one week in 1946. Over the past 67 years, the study’s wealth In the 1970s we supported Sir Martin Evans’ Nobel Prize-winning work 100 years: Tuberculosis research of findings have influenced policy on diet, lifestyle and healthy ageing, to isolate and genetically manipulate embryonic stem cells for the 100 years: Mental health research and taught us about future disease risk and treatment. first time, and today our scientists are investigating the use of stem Mental ill health is a huge social and economic burden on people and The MRC was set up primarily to tackle TB, and over the last century www.nshd.mrc.ac.uk cells to treat blindness, heart disease and neurodegenerative diseases. societies around the world, and costs at least £77 billion a year in we’ve played a leading role in TB research. In 1944 we funded a www.mrc.ac.uk/Achievementsimpact/NobelPrize/SirMartinEvans landmark trial of the first anti-TB drug, streptomycin, and in the 1950s England alone. That’s why mental health research is one of the MRC’s we funded a major trial of the BCG vaccine for TB in schoolchildren, strategic priorities. In 2010 we carried out a comprehensive review which changed public health policy and led to universal vaccination in of this field in the UK which included our own ambitions to focus on schools. Today, the battleground has shifted to developing countries experimental medicine, population based research and boosting and MRC scientists are working to find new drug targets and tests for training for mental health research. the disease, which still affects nearly nine million people each year.
20 | MRCNetwork MRCNetwork | 21 MRC PEOPLE
Margaret Thatcher on a visit to the MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology in the 1980s. She is talking to Professor Max Perutz, who won a Award for infant Nobel prize with Sir John Kendrew Until 1970 the MRC provided a Radiological for determining the structures of Protection Service for the UK. In this 1969 picture, globular proteins like haemoglobin, scientists are simulating an incident involving which carries oxygen in the blood. pneumococcus research radioactive material and checking a member of staff to see if his hands are contaminated. A scientist from the MRC Unit in The Gambia, Dr Martin Ota, has been awarded the Royal Society Pfizer Exceptional Merit Award in 2012 for his outstanding research on pneumococcal infection in infancy.
The annual award distinguishes early career scientists based in Africa and aims to promote science capacity building in the developing world.
Pneumococcus bacteria cause around a million deaths a year among children in developing countries. They are commonly found at the back of the nose and can invade the lungs and brain to cause pneumonia and meningitis. New director for molecular Dr Ota will use his £37,000 prize money to help set up a study of 200 mothers and their babies which will aim to discover the level of medicine institute Scientists at the National Institute for pneumococcus-fighting antibodies needed in mothers for them to be Medical Research World Influenza able to pass on these protective antibodies to their newborn babies. Professor Douglas Higgs has become Director of the MRC Centre testing for different strains of Major General Sir William B Leishman, Director General of Army Medical Services and a member flu (using their mouths to draw of the MRC’s Council from 1920 – 1923. Leishman was the first to describe the protozoa which Weatherall Institute of Molecular Medicine (WIMM) at the University samples into pipettes), 1960s. cause Leishmaniasis, a fly-borne disease still rife in some developing countries today. Dr Ota, who says he is “excited and very pleased” to have his work of Oxford, following the retirement of eminent immunologist recognised by the award, explains: “Vaccine trials that focus on the Professor Sir Andrew McMichael. the efficacy of the vaccine in preventing disease are expensive and From time-consuming. By contrast, our trial will focus on correlates of The MRC WIMM carries out research in molecular and cell biology. protection from invasive pneumococcal disease, and rate of Since it was established in 1989, MRC WIMM scientists have made colonisation of the pharynx by the pneumococcus, producing results important discoveries relating to blood disorders, neurological more quickly and cheaply.” diseases, genetic conditions, cancer, malaria, HIV and influenza. archive For our centenary edition we’ve scoured Describing his appointment as “a great honour”, Professor Higgs the archives of Network’s predecessor, added: “The challenge will be to ensure that the institute continues to lead the field of molecular medicine and remains true to its founding MRC News, for images of some of our principles of applying first class basic science to important scientists and research from decades past. biomedical problems.”
Alzheimer’s statistics win prize
The MRC Biostatistics Unit’s (BSU) Dr Fiona Matthews along with Dr Dudley Goodhead and colleague former BSU scientists Dr Graciela Muniz (now at the MRC Centre for investigate the Lifelong Health and Ageing) and Dr Ardo van den Hout (now at biological effectiveness of University College London) have been awarded the Gopal Kanji Prize for ultrasoft X-rays on the best article published in 2011 by the Journal of Applied Statistics. Virus inoculation of an cells from mammals at egg at the NIMR World the MRC Radiobiology Influenza Centre in Unit in Harwell, 1980s. The award recognises their research which identified the age at which a the 1970s. Hen’s eggs were used to culture faster rate cognitive decline takes place in older people, using statistical Staff from the MRC Institute of Sound and viruses for research. techniques to fill in the gaps when observations are missing. Vibration Research measure the noise from an air compressor to investigate whether it exceeds government guidelines for noise in the workplace.
22 | MRCNetwork MRCNetwork | 23 For the latest information on MRC funding opportunities, FUNDING visit www.mrc.ac.uk/fundingopportunities
Developing EU neurodegenerative disease research funding
The EU Joint Programme in Neurodegenerative Disease Research policies, strategies and interventions, such as care pathways and tomorrow’s (JPND) has launched two calls for proposals which close on 19 and end-of-life strategies. 21 March 2013. JPND’s strategic priority diseases are Alzheimer’s and other The MRC is the UK lead for the first call, for research projects to identify dementias, Parkinson’s disease and related disorders, prion disease, genetic, epigenetic and environmental risk and protective factors motor neurone diseases, Huntington’s disease, spinocerebellar for neurodegenerative diseases. ESRC is the UK lead for the second call, ataxia and spinal muscular atrophy. which invites research proposals on the evaluation of health care African Further information can be found at www.jpnd.eu research
Research funding is now available for the ‘rising stars’ of biomedical research in Africa under the third round of the MRC/DFID African Research Leaders leaders (ARL) scheme.
Awards of up to £750,000 are available to early- to mid-career scientists to establish innovative research groups that are likely to attract Research Complex looks international recognition and external funding by the end of the award. CASE STUDY: The scheme is designed to attract and retain talented African scientists in sub-Saharan Africa, and invites applications for research which Dr Abdoulaye Diabaté, for MRC proposals address national and regional health needs in these countries. Burkina Faso The Research Complex at Harwell (RCaH), which provides Award-holders from the last two rounds of funding are carrying out world-class research laboratory facilities for both life and research into a broad range of diseases, from diabetes to Buruli ulcer, physical science researchers, is looking for funding proposals a neglected tropical disease which causes disfiguring skin ulcers in In Burkina Faso, where malaria is endemic, ARL award holder Dr Systems immunology funding from MRC scientists. Located close to the M4 and within children. You can read a case study opposite. Abdoulaye Diabaté is investigating ways to slow down breeding of easy reach of Oxford and London, the RCaH provides prime malaria-carrying mosquitoes. So far his research team has looked at The MRC Systems Immunology of the Human Life Course call is research space for researchers who are conducting work at The application deadline is 28 February 2013 and shortlisted applicants when and where mosquito mating swarms form, whether it will be now open, seeking outline proposals to establish multi-disciplinary Diamond Light Source, the ISIS neutron facility, the Central will be invited to an interview in late July 2013, with final decisions on possible to attract male mosquitoes in a swarm and kill them en masse, consortia with expertise in applying state-of-the-art mathematical Laser Facility and other shared facilities at the RAL. successful applications in August 2013. For full details, including further and how effective swarm-killing in combination with spraying homes or computational science. case studies of ARL award holders, visit: with insecticide is in reducing mosquito numbers. Already resident are a number of MRC-funded groups www.mrc.ac.uk/Fundingopportunities/Calls/ARL2013 Successful projects will be expected to use systems approaches to including RCaH Director Professor Simon Phillips’ own group, Since receiving his award in 2011, Dr Diabaté has been promoted to a explain and predict immunological processes and pathways and which is studying the structure and function of proteins that Maître de Recherche at the Institut de Recherche en Sciences de la how they change over the human lifecourse or in health and disease. modify DNA or repair it if it is damaged. Simon explains: Santé. He’s also expanded his research team to include a post-doc and “These [proteins] are often implicated in hereditary diseases two PhD students and leads a well-subscribed training course for The closing date is in March 2013 and successful applicants will be invited with a predisposition to cancer, such as Bloom’s Syndrome, medical entomology and parasitology to build capacity to submit full applications in summer 2013. For more information, visit and knowledge of the protein structures is key in this discipline in West Africa. www.mrc.ac.uk/Fundingopportunities/Calls to the design of drugs in the future.”
Dr Diabaté’s profile is in the ascendant internationally; he’s recently Space in the complex is filling up fast but proposals been invited to an international malaria conference in Switzerland are welcome from MRC scientists via our grant and as a key note speaker, given a lecture at Imperial College London and is fellowship schemes. More information can be found at a member of the organising committee for an EMBO conference series. www.mrc.ac.uk/Fundingopportunities/Calls/RCaH and on the RCaH website at www.rc-harwell.ac.uk
24 | MRCNetwork MRCNetwork | 25 YOUR FEEDBACK
Opinion Network is for anyone who has an interest in the work of the MRC, including scientists, doctors and health professionals involved in medical research, government departments and parliamentarians, and university staff and students. The aim is to provide a quick, easy-to-read summary of activities across the MRC, from research news 100 years from now through to funding, grant schemes and policy issues, with pointers to more in-depth information on websites and in other publications.
Sixty years ago, the structure of DNA was unknown. Thanks to Sir Gregory Winter’s work here at the LMB in the 1970s to We are very keen to receive feedback on Network and Today we know enough about DNA to reprogram its ‘humanise’ mouse antibodies and make them more suitable for use in suggestions for new features from our readers. So if you instructions to produce synthetic molecules and even people, there’s been an explosion in protein therapeutics and several of have any comments, please let us know. Just email: the world’s top drugs are now antibody therapies. Sooner or later I [email protected] cells. As we celebrate a century of MRC-funded think that more drugs will be protein therapeutics, and our ability to Network is produced by the MRC Corporate Affairs Group. advances, Professor Jason Chin from the MRC ‘soup-up’ these proteins with synthetic biology approaches could vastly Editor: Sarah Harrop expand their scope. Laboratory of Molecular Biology speculates about Designer: Vin Kumar where such research might take us in future. For example, a biotech company in San Diego, Ambrx*, is carrying out a A limited number of copies are available in print. Network Synthetic biology is a fascinating new area of science. It’s all about clinical trial of a protein therapeutic for growth deficiency can also be downloaded as a pdf at: thinking how we might be able to change the way biological systems incorporating some of these synthetic amino acids, which they hope www.mrc.ac.uk/network work, to help us understand them more deeply or to get them to do will make the drug more stable in the blood so that patients need to useful things for us which they can’t normally do. take less of it than they normally would. IMAGES Its potential applications are broad and, frankly, amazing. For example, Other scientists are using these synthetic amino acids to attach Front/Back cover: MRC archive, Noel Murphy, Martin Phelps some scientists are building biological systems that can count every antibodies to toxic molecules so that they can be specifically targeted Page 3: © Charles D. Winters/Science Photo Library time a cell divides. In the future this might be used as part of a to kill cancer cells, leaving healthy cells unharmed. © Zephyr/Science Photo Library system to trigger the killing of cells in the human body that have Page 4: © Pasieka/Science Photo Library Page 5: © Steve Gschmeissner/Science Photo Library divided more times than expected for a normal cell, such as cancer One challenge that many synthetic biologists face is that our ability to Page 7: © Photography of Richard Dawkins © Simon Hadley cells. And beyond medical research, synthetic biology approaches make bits of DNA and move them around far exceeds our Page 8: © iStockPhoto.com Page 9: © Andrew Bastawrous are being investigated to do many other things, from making understanding of what the consequences will be. Page 10-11: © Henning Dalhoff / Science Photo Library biofuels to mopping up pollution. Page 12-13: © (Left to Right) Lindsay McBurnie, A. Barrington Brown/ But while research necessarily involves exploring unknown territory, it is Science Photo Library, MRC archive, Trinity Mirror/Mirrorpix, iStockPhoto.com, iStockPhoto.com, Alec Jeffreys, My research involves expanding the available repertoire of amino tightly regulated and scientists take every precaution that they can to Zephyr/Science Photo Library, MRC archive acids, the twenty building blocks that are strung together to make the make sure the experiments they are doing are safe. As in every day life, Page 14-17: © Wellcome Trust © Science Photo Library proteins which carry out many of the processes that keep us alive. everything we do has some element of risk, but the more we learn © MRC archive We are working on re-engineering the cellular factories that normally through research the more we’re able to judge those risks. Page 16: © Peter Mansfield, University of Nottingham make proteins in a cell to get them to make proteins containing entirely Page 18-19: main image - © John Finch, TL - © National Portrait Gallery, TR - © Archive of Aaron Klug new amino acids that are not found in nature. This may sound esoteric, Watson and Crick elucidated the double-helix structure of DNA just 60 Page 20-21: © iStockPhoto.com but it provides a powerful approach for seeing what proteins get years ago. If you think back to a time before we understood the Page 22-23: © MRC archive Page 24: © Steve Gschmeissner/Science Photo Library up to in a cell, and takes us a step closer to providing new molecules molecular basis of heredity, before we could sequence genomes or Page 25: © Pasieka/Science Photo Library to tackle disease. even really understood that genes are linked with disease, it would have
been impossible to imagine today’s world of antibodies or molecular By introducing new chemical groups into proteins we can track them, targeted therapeutics. Medical Research Council (Swindon office) 2nd Floor David Phillips Building rather like with the GPS on our phones, and find out where they go, Polaris House and which other proteins in the cell they talk to. Putting new amino Synthetic biology research isn’t going to solve all the world’s problems North Star Avenue acids into proteins has revealed some long-kept secrets about what tomorrow and it is important to be clear that the promise of new Swindon SN2 1FL proteins do in cells. I anticipate that the insights revealed by these approaches often takes many years to be realised in full. There was an approaches will, in due course, provide some of the very basic interval of many years from Fred Sanger’s invention of DNA sequencing Medical Research Council (London office) knowledge to inform the next generation of translational research. to the sequencing of the human genome; from the discovery of 14th Floor One Kemble Street methods for creating monoclonal antibodies by Kohler and Milstein to London Synthetic biologists are already on the cusp of improving human health the creation of antibody therapies. In decades to come I’m optimistic WC2B 4AN through pioneering approaches that allow us to change and improve we’ll see progress on understanding the physical basis of what it means Phone (+44) (0)1793 416200 drugs that are made of proteins - for example antibodies, insulin or to be a sentient, conscious individual, and how life may have arisen growth hormones. from simple molecules. www.mrc.ac.uk
* Jason Chin has a financial interest in Ambrx. Jason W. Chin is head of the Centre for Chemical & Synthetic Biology and a Programme Leader in the Division of Protein & Nucleic Acid Chemistry at the MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology. Find out more at www2.mrc-lmb.cam.ac.uk/ccsb
26 | MRCNetwork MRCNetwork | 27 www.mrc.ac.uk