Heroes of Health

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Linking discovery science and medicine to drive innovation and health

Celebrating 105 years of the Medical Research Council Stories & Research: Kirstin von Glasow Illustrator: Lindsay McBirnie

Grants, Engagement and Communications (GECo), MRC London Institute of Medical Sciences

Contents What is MRC?.................................................................................................................................5 How MRC was born.......................................................................................................................6 Henry Dale and the Fungus.........................................................................................................16 Almroth Wright and the Bacteria...............................................................................................29 Harriette Chick and the Sunshine..............................................................................................40 Dorothy Crowfoot Hodgkin: Oxford Housewife wins Nobel.....................................................49 Max Perutz and the Molecular Lung..........................................................................................59 Mary Barber and the Persistent Bug..........................................................................................69 Mary Lyon and the Tortoiseshell Cat.........................................................................................79 Peter Mansfield: the Jam Jar Genius.........................................................................................89 Thank you.....................................................................................................................................99

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What is MRC? The Medical Research Council (MRC) was established in 1913 and for more than 100 years has been funded by taxpayers through the government’s science budget to study the basis of health and disease. In 2018, we mark the start of a new chapter for the MRC as it joins with other government funded research organisations to form United Kingdom Research and Innovation (UKRI). With a budget of over £6 billion per annum, UKRI will fund research across the arts, technology, engineering, physical, natural, environmental, social, biological and medical sciences, ensuring that the UK has the best possible environment for research and innovation.

‘Heroes of Health’ tells the story of the MRC and introduces eight scientists whose ground-breaking research has changed the lives of people in the UK and across the world. Early pioneers such as Henry Dale, Almroth Wright and Harriette Chick helped in founding the MRC and worked on the prevention and treatment of infectious diseases and nutritional deficiencies. Using x-ray crystallography, scientists like Dorothy Crowfoot Hodgkin and Max Perutz determined the structure of important molecules such as penicillin, vitamin B12 , insulin and haemoglobin, revealing critical chemical processes and enabling the manufacture of new life-saving drugs. Mary Lyon, the geneticist who discovered X-chromosome inactivation, transformed our understanding of modern epigenetics, while Mary Barber pioneered the restriction of antibiotics and control of bacterial cross-infection in hospitals. Peter Mansfield, a physicist by training, opened ‘windows on the working brain and body’ by developing the MRI scanner, an instrument that has revolutionised clinical imaging. The contributions of each of these scientists, and others, exemplify how medical research has continued to improve the health of people around the globe for more than a century.

For more information contact: Scout Davies scout.davies@lms.mrc.ac.uk Grants, Engagement and Communications (GECo) MRC London Institute of Medical Sciences, London, W12 0NN

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Thank you This comic was developed thanks to research and ideas from Kirstin and Juli von Glasow, Andree Molyneux and Brona McVittie. Thanks also to Professor Amanda Fisher for helping shape the stories and Lindsay McBirnie for illustrating them. Heroes of Health was produced by Grants, Engagement and Communications (GECo) at the MRC London Institute of Medical Sciences, to celebrate the Medical Research Council’s 105th birthday.

Happy birthday MRC!

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