Research Council (MRC)
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The Medical Research Council (MRC) The Medical Research Council (MRC) is a national organisation funded by the UK taxpayer. It promotes research into all areas of medical and related science, with the aims of maintaining and improving public health and of contributing to national wealth and quality of life.The research it supports and the scientists it trains meet the needs of the health services, the pharmaceutical and other health- related industries and the academic world. MRC has funded work, which has led to some of the most significant discoveries and achievements of 20th century medicine, for example the clinical use of penicillin – the first antibiotic –, deciphering the structure of DNA, and establishing the link between smoking and cancer. The MRC has three major MRC Institutes: the National Institute for Medical Research (NIMR, Mill Hill, London); the Laboratory of Molecular Biology; (LMB, Cambridge), and the Clinical Sciences Centre (CSC, Hammersmith Hospital, London). In addition, there are 32 smaller MRC Units, an MRC Health Services Research Collaboration and three grant-funded Centres, most of which are attached to higher education institutions and hospitals throughout the UK.The MRC also has laboratories overseas, in The Gambia and Uganda.About half of the MRC’s expenditure of £345 million in 1999/2000 was invested in MRC establishments, where it employs its own research staff.The remaining half funded grant support and training awards to individuals and teams in universities and medical schools. In 1999/2000, the three main MRC Institutes; spent a total of £52 million between them, while spending on Units amounted to £72 million. MRC Centres and Units, are established, depending on which type of organisation is most appropriate to the scientific needs and their host setting, to boost research in specific areas or give impetus to research teams beyond the scale of their host institution’s usual research activities. Many of them provide an international focus of expertise in particular areas of science. Some establishments are jointly funded with BBSRC.These are the Neuropathogenesis Unit, the Oxford Centre for Molecular Sciences and the Jenner Institute for Vaccine Research. In 2000 the MRC awarded new centre grants for: Inflammation Research (Edinburgh), Social, Genetic and Developmental Psychiatry (Institute of Psychiatry, London), and Developmental Neurobiology (King’s College, London). Interdisciplinary research collaborations have been formed with BBSRC and EPSRC in imaging, nanotechnology and tissue engineering. 37 MRC Clinical Sciences Centre (CSC) CSC forms the centrepiece of the MRC’s clinical research initiative, which is aimed at integrating basic biological science with clinical research. It is now the second largest of the MRC’s research establishments and has brought together a number of pre-existing MRC Units, together with research groups and a number of new research teams. The CSC is located at the Hammersmith Hospital in West London, the major clinical research campus of Imperial College School of Medicine (ICSM), and has formed a close partnership with both ICSM and the Hammersmith Hospitals NHS Trust (HHT).A new Clinical Research Fellowships scheme has been established jointly with ICSM to promote excellence in research training in academic medicine. The CSC has strengths in two of the most important and far-reaching approaches to studying biological mechanisms, genetics and cell biology, and in vivo imaging and spectroscopy.The CSC undertakes innovative, multidisciplinary research, which underpins and advances our understanding of human health and disease and fosters links between basic science and clinical medicine. By bridging these disciplines, CSC aims to build an integrated understanding of the molecular and cellular basis of disease, and so speed the clinical delivery of improved detection, prevention and treatment of disease. Director: Contact: Professor Chris Higgins PhD FRSE Mags Clappison MRC Clinical Sciences Centre Tel: 020 8383 8769 Imperial College School of Medicine Hammersmith Campus Website: Du Cane Road www.csc.mrc.ac.uk London W12 0NN Staff: Science and Research Project Expenditure 1999-2000: Support 174 £8 million Management, administration and policy 21 Infrastructure 4 Technical services 49 38 MRC National Institute for Medical Research (NIMR) The MRC National Institute for Medical Research is the Council’s largest research establishment.The emphasis is on fundamental non-clinical studies, although staff at the Institute collaborate in clinical research programmes in the UK and the tropics. NIMR research is grouped into four major areas: Neurosciences, which analyses the molecular basis of brain and nervous system function; Structural Biology, which studies the structure, function and interactions between a range of biologically active and medically important molecules; Genes & Development, which investigates the molecular signals that control development from embryo to adult; and Infections and Immunity, which aims to understand immune system development, the molecular basis of bacterial, viral and parasitic infections, and investigate how infections and vaccinations produce immunity. Although the MRC is the single largest source of research funding, the Institute also attracts support from a wide range of different agencies, including medical research charities, international sources, particularly the EU, and from industry.The World Influenza Centre based in NIMR’s Division of Virology and the Division of Mycobacterial Research are recognised as WHO Collaborating Centres for reference on influenza and M.leprae. Director: Contact: Sir John Skehel PhD FRS Mark Franklin National Institute for Medical Research Tel: 020 8959 3666 The Ridgeway Mill Hill Website: London www.nimr.mrc.ac.uk NW7 1AA Staff: Expenditure 2000-2001: 400 scientists £25 million 150 support 39 MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology (LMB) LMB aims to understand the basic processes of life.The Laboratory has two major goals. Firstly to interpret biological phenomena at the molecular level through a wide range of studies on the structure of proteins, nucleic acids, membranes, organelles and viruses. Secondly to undertake research on the mechanisms and control of gene expression and the three-dimensional organisation of cells.A further aim is to understand pathological conditions in humans.This largely fundamental research uses a variety of biological systems, depending on which is most appropriate to the phenomena under investigation and the experimental approach being used.The analytical methods employed include X-ray crystallography, NMR, electron microscopy and computational and theoretical studies, allied to biochemical and molecular biological approaches. LMB has four research divisions, structural studies, protein and nucleic acid chemistry, cell biology and neurobiology, but scientific collaboration across these boundaries is extensive, and fluctuating associations between individual staff members are used to tackle problems of common interest.The cross-fertilisation between areas is illustrated by the importance of myelomas and leukaemias for research in molecular immunology and by the way in which recent advances in understanding neurodegenerative diseases, cancer and AIDS are revolutionising diagnosis. Director: Contact: Dr Richard Henderson PhD FRS Jennifer Cornwell Laboratory of Molecular Biology Tel: 020 7670 5478 Hills Road Cambridge Website: CB2 2QH www.mrc-lmb.cam.ac.uk Expenditure 1999-2000: Staff: £17 million 276 scientists 142 research, technical and support. 40 Medical Research Council Units and Centres Anatomical Neuropharmacology Unit The aims of this unit are to elucidate neuronal networks by analysis of the properties, synaptic connections and molecular components of identified neurones in the brain, with particular reference to behaviour and to disease. University Department of Pharmacology Mansfield Road Oxford OX1 3TH Tel:01865-271 865 Fax: 01865-271 647 http://mrcanu.pharm.ox.ac.uk Biochemical and Clinical Magnetic Resonance Unit The unit is investigating the biochemical basis of human diseases in an integrated programme ranging from cellular studies to clinical problems. Special emphasis is placed on the development and application of magnetic resonance spectroscopy for the observation of metabolic processes in cells, living tissues and man.The British Heart Foundation NMR Research Group is associated with this unit. MRC Centre, Oxford Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy John Radcliffe Hospital Headington Oxford OX3 9DU Tel:01865-221 868 Fax: 01865-221 112 www.bioch.ox.ac.uk Biostatistics Unit The unit is concerned with the development and application of statistical methods in medicine and biology.This includes research into the epidemiology and aetiology of disease, the development of models of the natural history of disease, the design and analysis of trials of preventive measures or of therapeutic or prophylactic agents and the evaluation of medical technology, and the development of mathematical- statistical techniques. Much of the work of the unit is performed in collaboration with other Council units and other scientific workers. Institute of Public Health University Forvie Site Robinson Way Cambridge CB2 2SR Unit secretary:Tel:01223-330 366 Fax: 01223-330 388 www.mrc-bsu.cam.ac.uk 41 BBSRC and MRC Neuropathogenesis Unit The unit studies diseases of the nervous system caused by unconventional agents. The pathogenesis of these conditions will be compared with other