Medical Research Council

THE MEDICAL RESEARCH COUNCIL (MRC) is a publicly funded organization in the United Kingdorn [Page 327](UK) that supports research in the medical sciences within the UK and Africa. Although the MRC receives annual grant—in-aid funding from Parliament through the Office of Science and Innovation, its choices about what research to fund are made independently of the government. The MRC supports medical research through research grants and career awards to scientists, by funding research centers at universities, and through MRC research facilities. Research is organized into five areas (2006–07 research funding in parenthesis): Physiological Systems and Clinical Sciences (£97.3 million), Health Services and Public Health (£89.8 million), Neurosciences and Mental Health (£108.7 million), Infections and Immunity (£85.8 million), and Molecular and Cellular Medicine (£192.1 million).

The MRC is governed by the MRC Council, led by (in 2008) chairman Sir John Chisholm and Deputy Chairman Sir Leszek Borysiewicz. The Executive Board is responsible for day—to-day management of the organization, while five Research Boards allocate MRC funds to support scientific research, and the Training and Development Board. MRC Technology is an affiliated company which works with industry to translate scientific findings into practical applications: in 2006–2007 MRC income from technology transfer licensing was £47 million. The Medical Research Foundation is an independently managed charity associated with the MRC that receives donations from the public to support medical research.

The MRC currently funds over 130 stem cell research projects, fellowships, and studentships and supports major stem cell programs in three MRC institutes and two MRC centers, the Centre for Stem Cell Biology and Medicine in Cambridge, and the Centre for Stem Cell Research in Edinburgh. The MRC is also the chief contributor to the UK Stem Cell Bank, which stores stem cells derived from adult, fetal, and embryonic tissues and may be used by approved scientists from around the world. The UK Stem Cell Bank was founded in 2004, jointly funded by the MRC and the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council, and was the first such institution in the world. The first two hESC lines in the UK were approved for deposit in May 2004, and as of November 2007 63 human embryonic stem cell (hESC) lines had been approved for banking.

The MRC is the chief contributor to the UK Stem Cell Bank, which was the first such institution in the world.

The MRC launched the International Stem Cell Forum (ISCF) in 2003 along with eight other international funding agencies, in order to create standardized global criteria for creating, storing and maintaining stem cell lines. The ISCF, which today has 21 member organizations in 19 countries, has three major projects: The International Stem Cell Initiative (ISCI), which aims to characterize the properties of a range of hESC lines and establish a registry; the International Stem Cell Banking Initiative, which aims to establish best practices [Page 328]and guides for banking and development of hESC lines; and carrying out a global review of ethical issues and regulations and intellectual property issues related to cell research.