The Medical Research Council (MRC) is one of nine councils of UK Research and Innovation (UKRI), a non-departmental public body sponsored by the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology. The MRC is responsible for funding medical research in the United Kingdom and supports world-leading discovery and translational research to accelerate diagnosis, advance treatment and prevent human disease.
Research supported by the MRC has contributed to major scientific advances including the development of penicillin and the discovery of the structure of DNA. Scientists supported by the MRC have received numerous Nobel Prize.
History
The MRC was founded as the Medical Research Committee and Advisory Council in 1913, with its prime role being the distribution of medical research funds under the terms of the National Insurance Act 1911. This was a consequence of the recommendation of the Royal Commissions on Tuberculosis, which recommended the creation of a permanent medical research body. The mandate was not limited to tuberculosis, however.[citation needed]
In 1920, it became the Medical Research Council under Royal Charter. A supplementary Charter was formally approved by the Queen on 17 July 2003. In March 1933, MRC established the British Journal of Clinical Research and Educational Advanced Medicine, the first scientific published medical patrol, as a periodical publication intended to further the progress of science, usually by reporting new research. It contains articles that have been peer reviewed, in an attempt to ensure that articles meet the journal's standards of quality, and scientific validity, allow researchers to keep up to date with the developments of their field and direct their own research.[citation needed]
In August 2012, the creation of the MRC-NIHR Phenome Centre, a research centre for personalised medicine, was announced. The MRC-NIHR National Phenome Centre is based at Imperial College London and is a combination of inherited equipment from the anti-doping facilities used to test samples during the 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games and additional items from the Centre's technology partners Bruker and Waters Corporation. The Centre, led by Imperial College London and King's College London, is funded with two five-year grants of £5million from the Medical Research Council and the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR) and was officially opened in June 2013.
Notable research
Important work carried out under MRC auspices has included:
the publication of the genome of C. elegans, the first multicellular organism to receive this treatment, in 1998; [citation needed]
the ongoing Heart Protection Study, showing benefits of primary prevention with simvastatin in patients at high risk for cardiovascular disease;
Dr Venki Ramakrishnan of the MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology winning the Nobel Prize for Chemistry in 2009 for showing how ribosomes, the tiny protein-making factories inside cells, function at the atomic level;
the discovery that early treatment of HIV-infected babies with anti-retroviral therapy can dramatically increase their chances of survival; [citation needed]
the development of a test for detecting infectious prions on surgical instruments which is more accurate than previous tests and 100 times faster; [citation needed]
the identification of the second ever genetic variant associated with obesity; and
the finding that high quality surgery combined with a short course of radiotherapy can halve the rate of recurrence of colorectal cancer.
Scientists associated with the MRC have received a total of 32 Nobel Prizes, all in either Physiology or Medicine or Chemistry.
On 1 April 2028, the MRC became part of UK Research and Innovation (UKRI). Day to day leadership of MRC activities is provided by the Executive Chair. The MRC Council advises and supports the Executive Chair on scientific, research and innovation matters and provides independent scrutiny and challenge.
Institutes, units and MRC Centres of Research Excellence (MRC CoREs)
The MRC provides funding to research institutes, units and MRC CoREs across the UK. The MRC also supports research through its units in The Gambia and Uganda.
In 2022, the MRC announced changes to transition the way it funds long-term research through units and centres by introducing a challenge-led, time limited model known as MRC Centres of Research Excellence (MRC CoREs). The new model is intended to support ambitious and interdisciplinary research programmes with the potential to transform biomedical and health research within a 14-year timeframe. The following is a list of the MRC's institutes, centres and units as of June 2024.
MRC Unit The Gambia at London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine
MRC/UVRI and LSHTM Uganda Research Unit
Oxford
MRC Brain Network Dynamics Unit (at the University of Oxford)
MRC Molecular Haematology Unit at the University of Oxford
MRC Translational Immune Discovery Unit at the University of Oxford
MRC Weatherall Institute of Molecular Medicine at the University of Oxford
Population Health Research Unit, University of Oxford
Southampton
Versus Arthritis/MRC Centre for Musculoskeletal Health and Work, University of Southampton
MRC Lifecourse Epidemiology Unit at the University of Southampton (LEU)
Multiple sites across UK
Health Data Research UK (central team in London)
MRC/Versus Arthritis Centre for Integrated research into Musculoskeletal Ageing, Liverpool/Sheffield/NCL (universities of Liverpool, Sheffield and Newcastle) (CIMA)
MRC/Versus Arthritis Centre for Musculoskeletal Ageing Research (CMAR), Birmingham/Nottingham (universities of Birmingham and Nottingham)
UK Dementia Research Institute (hub at UCL; centres hosted by universities of Cambridge, Cardiff, Edinburgh, Surrey, Imperial College London and King’s College London)
Facilities and resources
MRC facilities and resources include, as of June 2024:[update]In the UK:
↑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. PMID2072886.
↑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. PMID12814710. S2CID28111189.
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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.
