MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology
The Medical Research Council (MRC) Laboratory of Molecular Biology (LMB) is a research institute in Cambridge, England, involved in the revolution in molecular biology which occurred in the 1950–60s. Since then it has remained a major medical research laboratory at the forefront of scientific discovery, dedicated to improving the understanding of key biological processes at atomic, molecular and cellular levels using multidisciplinary methods, with a focus on using this knowledge to address key issues in human health. A new replacement building constructed close by to the original site on the Cambridge Biomedical Campus was opened by Her Majesty the Queen in May 2013. The road outside the new building is named Francis Crick Avenue after the 1962 joint Nobel Prize winner and LMB alumnus, who co-discovered the helical structure of DNA in 1953. Max Perutz, following undergraduate training in organic chemistry, left Austria in 1936 and came to the University of Cambridge to study for a PhD, joining the X-ray crystallographic group led by J.D. Bernal. Here, in the Cavendish laboratory, he started his lifelong work on hemoglobin. The death of Lord Rutherford led to his successor, Lawrence Bragg, a pioneer in X-ray crystallography, becoming the new Cavendish professor of physics in 1938. Bragg became a major supporter of Perutz and his group in those early days. After World War II, many scientists from the physical side of science turned to biology, bringing with them a new way of thinking and expertise. John Kendrew joined Perutz's group to study a protein closely related to hemoglobin — myoglobin — in 1946. In 1947, the Medical Research Council (MRC), under the guidance of its Secretary Harold Himsworth, decided to form and support the “MRC Unit for the Study of the Molecular Structure of Biological Systems”. The group, which by 1948 also included Hugh Huxley working on muscle, was joined in 1949 by Francis Crick, who worked initially on protein crystallography. In 1951 they were joined by James Watson.
