TheMedical Research Council (MRC) is responsible for co-coordinating and funding medical research in the United Kingdom. It is part ofUnited Kingdom Research and Innovation (UKRI), which came into operation 1 April 2018, and brings together the UK's seven research councils,Innovate UK and Research England. UK Research and Innovation is answerable to, although politically independent from, theDepartment for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy.
The MRC focuses on high-impact research and has provided the financial support and scientific expertise behind a number of medical breakthroughs, including the development ofpenicillin and the discovery of thestructure of DNA. Research funded by the MRC has produced 32Nobel Prize winners to date.
The MRC was founded as the Medical Research Committee and Advisory Council in 1913,[1] with its prime role being the distribution of medical research funds under the terms of theNational Insurance Act 1911. This was a consequence of the recommendation of theRoyal 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 ResearchCouncil underRoyal Charter. A supplementary Charter was formally approved by the Queen on 17 July 2003. In March 1933, MRC established theBritish 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.[2][3] The MRC-NIHR National Phenome Centre is based atImperial College London and is a combination of inherited equipment from the anti-doping facilities used to test samples during the 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games[2][3] and additional items from the Centre's technology partnersBruker andWaters Corporation. The Centre, led byImperial College London andKing's College London, is funded with two five-year grants of £5 million from the Medical Research Council and theNational Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR)[2][3] and was officially opened in June 2013.[4]
The MRC is advised by a council which directs and oversees corporate policy and science strategy, ensures that the MRC is effectively managed, and makes policy and spending decisions. Council members are drawn from industry, academia, government and the NHS. Members are appointed by the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy. Daily management is in the hands of the Executive Chair. Members of the council also chair specialist boards on specific areas of research. For specific subjects, the council convenes committees.[20]
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 ofLiverpool,Sheffield andNewcastle) (CIMA)
MRC/Versus Arthritis Centre for Musculoskeletal Ageing Research (CMAR), Birmingham/Nottingham (universities ofBirmingham andNottingham)
UK Dementia Research Institute (hub at UCL; centres hosted by universities of Cambridge, Cardiff, Edinburgh, Surrey, Imperial College London and King’s College London)
^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.
Austoker, Joan, andLinda Bryder, eds.Historical perspectives on the role of the MRC: essays in the history of the Medical Research Council of the United Kingdom and its predecessor, the Medical Research Committee, 1913–1953 (Oxford UP, 1989)
Fisher D. "The Rockefeller Foundation and the Development of Scientific Medicine in Britain"Minerva (1987) 16#1, 20–41.
Sussex, Jon, et al. "Quantifying the economic impact of government and charity funding of medical research on private research and development funding in the United Kingdom."BMC Medicine 14#1 (2016): 1+
Viergever, Roderik F., and Thom CC Hendriks. "The 10 largest public and philanthropic funders of health research in the world: what they fund and how they distribute their funds."Health Research Policy and Systems 14#1 (2016): 1.
