What do we do?

www.mrc.ac.uk

About us

The Medical Research Council (MRC) improves the health of people in the UK - and around the world - by supporting excellent science, and training the very best scientists.

We are a non-departmental public body funded by the government’s science and research budget through the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills.

What do we do?

We invest in research on behalf of the UK tax payer. Our research has resulted in life- changing discoveries for over a hundred years.

Scientists apply to the MRC for funding for their research and applications are reviewed by panels of independent experts.

The MRC’s mission, as set out in our Royal Charter, is to:

• Encourage and support research to improve human health

• Produce skilled researchers

• Advance and disseminate knowledge and technology to improve the quality of life and economic competitiveness of the UK

• Promote dialogue with the public about medical research

What research do we fund and where?

Our work ranges from laboratory research, for example on genes and molecules, right through to research in people, such as clinical trials and population studies.

Our science is split into six broad areas of research, which are:

1. Infections and immunity 2. Molecular and cellular medicine 3. Neurosciences and mental health

4. Population and systems medicine 5. Global health

6. Translational research

Our research is carried out in universities, hospitals and a network of 60 dedicated establishments across the UK and Africa.

Find out more about us at www.mrc.ac.uk/about

£

In 2013/14 the MRC spent

845.3m

MRC researchers collaborate with

scientists in more than 100 countries

In the MRC supported

students

research staff supported by MRC funding in 2014

70,000

scientific papers originated from MRC research between 2006*

and 2014 More than

To date

31

the Nobel Prize

MRC-funded

products or interventions were being developed as a result of their research

Between 2006* and 2014 MRC researchers reported that

1,440

MRC research is linked to the formation of 77 spin out companies bringing discoveries to the market

*Electronic records began in 2006.

1997 •

Sir John Walker was awarded a Nobel Prize for determining the structure and mechanism of a complex enzyme machine called the ATP synthase, the generator of the cell’s major energy source.

1980s • Following on from Milstein and Kohler’s discovery of individual, or monoclonal, antibodies in the 1970s, Sir Greg Winter devised a

way to ‘humanise’ these monoclonal antibodies, making them suitable for clinical use.

1936 • Professor Otto Loewi and Sir Henry Dale showed that nerve impulses are transmitted by

chemical signals, and identified and isolated the first neurotransmitter: acetylcholine.

1940s • Following Sir Alexander Fleming’s accidental discovery of penicillin,

work by Sir Ernst Chain and Lord Florey during World War II made large-scale production of the antibiotic penicillin possible for the

first time.

1953 • Work by James Watson,

Francis Crick, Maurice Wilkins and Rosalind Franklin revealed that the molecular structure of DNA is a double helix.

1956 • Sir Richard Doll and Sir Austin Bradford Hill showed that the

death rate from lung cancer among heavy smokers was 20 times the rate in non-smokers,

proving the link between smoking and lung cancer.

2009 •

Dr Venki Ramakrishnan, of the MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology,

won the Nobel Prize for Chemistry for showing how ribosomes, the tiny

protein-making factories inside cells, function at the atomic level.

2010 •

A bowel cancer screening test developed for the over 65s allows doctors to detect the early stages of bowel cancer, saving an estimated 3,000 lives each year in the UK.

2013 •

MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology alumni, Professor Michael Levitt, Professor Arieh

Warshel and Professor Martin Karplus, won the Nobel Prize for Chemistry for their development of multiscale models for complex chemical systems.

102 discoveries ^{years of}

Nearly 11,000 children with hearing impairments have been diagnosed early since the NHS Newborn Hearing Screening Programme (supported by MRC research) was introduced in 2001.

• The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 2014 was awarded to John O’Keefe, along with Britt Moser and Edvard I Moser for their discovery of cells which make up a positioning system or ‘inner GPS’ in the brain.

A total of 22 Nobel Prizes have been awarded to 31 MRC-funded scientists since the MRC was set up in 1913.

• Researchers from the MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology created the world’s first artificial enzymes using synthetic biology, which could provide a starting point for a new generation of drugs and diagnostics.

• Scientists at the MRC National Institute for Medical Research and the MRC Centre for Regenerative Medicine grew a ‘seed’ of spinal cord tissue in a dish. They hope this will pave the way for future treatment of degenerative conditions such as spinal muscular atrophy and other neuromuscular conditions.

Read about more of our scientists’ latest discoveries at:

www.mrc.ac.uk/annualreview13-14

A life changed: Tiger’s story

Tiger DeSouza was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis (MS) seven years ago and took part in a clinical trial of a drug for MS, developed with MRC funding. The trial compared a drug, Alemtuzumab, with the standard MS drug treatment regimens over two years.

The drug is a monoclonal antibody-based therapy, developed by MRC scientists in the 1980s, which works by killing immune system cells called T cells, that attack the body’s own cells in MS.

2012

Results of the trial showed that

Alemtuzumab reduced relapses by 55 per cent compared to the standard treatment in people with relapsing-remitting MS.

2013

In September Alemtuzumab was licensed as a treatment for early MS in Europe.

2014

In April Alemtuzumab was approved for use in the NHS (UK) and in December it was licensed for use in the US.

“When you get the opportunity to have a treatment like this, and you get that initial feeling that it’s working, then your entire outlook just becomes a lot more positive.”

– Tiger Read more about Tiger’s story here: www.annualreview13.mrc.ac.uk

Fighting dementia: Giovanna’s story

In 2013, MRC scientists made a promising breakthrough towards finding new targets for drugs to slow down the onset of dementia.

Neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer’s disease are incurable conditions that cause brain cells to die. They’re strongly linked with ageing and are a big problem for our society.

Professor Giovanna Mallucci’s team, at the MRC Toxicology Unit, described the first compound that prevents neurodegeneration in the brains of mice with a brain disease called prion disease. It stopped the disease in its tracks, restoring normal behaviour and preventing memory loss.

The compound acted by blocking a process that switches off the production of new proteins, which is very damaging to brain cells in the context of ageing and disease. “It was extraordinary,” says Giovanna, describing the moment she realised it had worked. “It was absolutely clear that the animals were cured.”

This compound is not suitable for use in people, due to toxic effects, but the team are using different compounds to target the pathway in mice and are undoubtedly getting closer. “If you could prevent progression of disease that would already be an enormous step forward in preserving quality of life,”

explains Giovanna.

Read more about Giovanna’s work at: www.mrc.ac.uk/annualreview13-14 Did you know?

Cooling new born babies suffering from a lack of oxygen at birth significantly increases their chance of survival without brain damage.

Investing in asthma treatment:

Stephen’s story

A company set up by MRC-funded researchers from the University of Southampton, Synairgen plc, have pioneered a treatment with potential to be one of the biggest breakthroughs in asthma treatments in the past 20 years.

Professor Stephen Holgate is a Non-Executive Director and one of the three founders. With MRC funding he discovered that serious wheezing asthma attacks can be caused by viral infection.

By adding a drug, inhaled beta- interferon, he found that the virus- infected cells could destroy the virus.

In 2014, results from the Phase II clinical trial in asthma patients showed that ‘difficult-to-treat’

asthmatics benefited from treatment with the drug, SNG001. They have now licensed the treatment to global biopharmaceutical company AstraZeneca in a multi-million pound deal. AstraZeneca aims to bring it to market at the earliest opportunity.

“The MRC’s investment in me as far back as 1987 started a long- term investment in asthma-related research in Southampton. Without this initial confidence shown in me by the MRC, none of this would have occurred,” said Stephen.

Find out more about Synairgen at: http://mrc.io/synairgen-plc

Did you know?

Researchers co-funded by the MRC, from the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, are using drones to track malaria-carrying monkeys.

Diagnosing liver disease:

Stefan’s story

Cardiologist Professor Stefan Neubauer has invented a test for chronic liver disease which could cut diagnosis time from weeks to a single day.

While studying cardiac changes in obese people, Stefan and his team realised that their magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) technique could tell them important things about the liver. “We were astonished to discover that our test accurately predicted the main parameters that pathologists would look at in a liver biopsy sample,” said Stefan.

Fatty liver disease is a looming epidemic worldwide, mainly due to rising obesity rates.

It’s known as a ‘silent killer’

because generally it doesn’t cause symptoms until tissue damage is severe.

Compared to current diagnosis using needle biopsy which is costly, painful and carries a risk of bleeding, Stefan’s LiverMultiScan test gives detailed information about the whole liver from a 10-minute, painless scan.

They set up their spin-out company, Perspectum Diagnostics, in 2012. “These are exciting times because we expect the company to grow rapidly over the next year or two and to begin marketing this test worldwide. We now have 12 staff, and funding from Innovate UK to develop the scan further and show that it works in the ‘real world’,” said Stefan.

Read more about Stefan’s work at: www.mrc.ac.uk/annualreview13-14 Listen to Stefan’s story here: http://mrc.io/stefan-neubauer

Growing organs: Clare’s story

MRC scientists have grown a fully functional organ from scratch in a living animal, by transplanting a type of cell that was created in a lab by cell engineering. The advance could in future help the development of ‘lab-grown’ replacement organs.

Professor Clare Blackburn and her team, from the MRC Centre for Regenerative Medicine, used a type of mouse embryo cell that is easy to grow in the lab and converted them into a completely unrelated type of cell - specialised thymus cells. When mixed with other thymus cell types and transplanted into mice, these cells formed a replacement organ very similar to a healthy adult thymus.

The thymus is a vital immune system organ producing T cells, which guard against disease.

People whose immune systems do not contain enough T cells are vulnerable to infections.

The team hope their lab-made cells could lead to a thymus transplant treatment for people with a weakened immune system, for instance some bone marrow transplant patients.

“The ability to grow replacement organs from cells in the lab is one of the ‘holy grails’ in regenerative medicine. We’re concentrating now on trying to repeat the same work in humans, because if there’s going to be any benefit to patients then we need to show that what we can do in mice also works for human cells.”

– Clare

Read more about Clare’s research at: www.mrc.ac.uk/annualreview13-14 Watch a video about Clare’s story here: https://youtu.be/wcc0eVoubEk

Skills and careers

Are you interested in working in science? A career in science can be exciting, challenging and fulfilling. Medical research can be especially rewarding as the knowledge gained with each new discovery could potentially save lives or improve health.

We have created an interactive online tool to allow you to explore the options available at any stage of a medical research career and read case studies of people at the different stages. You can see some examples below.

Kevin Clark

“It’s really important not to see technical roles as inferior. You’re often the go-to person when people are stuck with a technique.”

Flow Cytometrist (Research/Technology Specialist), University of Oxford

Eva Hoffmann

“I’m really passionate about my research. Some days I wake up and I can’t believe I’m paid to do this.”

MRC Senior Non-Clinical Research Fellow, Sussex University

Ruth Agbakoba

“I’ve learnt to believe in myself, to recognise that I’m here through hard work and not good fortune.”

PhD student, University of Glasgow

Jessica Monk

“People said “girls don’t do engineering”

so I considered health and social care.

But I’m so glad I pursued this.”

Apprentice Machinist, Harwell

Find out more and explore your career options at:

www.mrc.ac.uk/interactivecareerframework

Keep in touch

Many of our research establishments hold open days and public events. Check our website for details: www.mrc.ac.uk/public-engagement

Are you interested in taking part in medical research? Find out how:

www.mrc.ac.uk/public-engagement/taking-part-in-research

To find out more about the MRC and keep up to date with the latest news visit:

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