Celebrating a century of cutting edge research
Medical Research Council Centre for Developmental and Biomedical Genetics reaches out to community
Thursday 20 June-Thursday 27 June
A unique research centre that uses state-of-the-art technology to help us understand a wide range of illnesses is hosting a series of celebration events. The MRC Centre for Developmental and Biomedical Genetics is opening its doors to schoolchildren, members of the public, charity fundraisers and local dignitaries to mark the Medical Research Council’s centenary.
Based in Firth Court at the University of Sheffield, the Centre has 15 teams of researchers studying zebrafish, fruit flies and chicks. It is unique in bringing together clinicians from the Medical School and pure scientists from the Department of Biomedical Science, and in breaking down traditional work boundaries.
Research programmes are leading to breakthroughs in our understanding of a wide range of diseases, ranging from Parkinson's disease to epilepsy, cardiovascular disease to inflammatory and infectious diseases, balance disorders to cancer.
The centenary events start on Thursday 20 June, when members of the public and the press will be learning about the centre’s work with fruit flies and zebrafish. There are around 1 million fruit flies (Drosophila) in the MRC Centre’s labs, and 60,000 tiny zebrafish, being studied by 120 researchers across three aquaria.
The flies and fish are ideal model organisms because the biology underlying their development and behaviour is comparable to that of humans. That means that if we can understand how biological processes and molecular changes occur in these organisms, we can better understand what causes a change in the human body, such as an illness. Zebrafish are also transparent, making it easy to study the changes happening inside their bodies.
Sixth form students from Tapton School in Crosspool will be visiting the aquaria on Monday 24 June. They will also be visiting the MRC Centre’s Screening Unit, where zebrafish are used in pre-clinical drug development programmes.
On Thursday 27 June, staff from law firm Nabarro LLP will be taken on a tour. Nabarro LLP’s Sheffield office is raising money for the British Heart Foundation this year, and staff are eager to learn about the work being done by the MRC to fight heart disease.
Finally, Linda McAvan, MEP for Yorkshire and the Humber will be visiting the centre on a date to be fixed. Her husband and Sheffield Central MP, Paul Blomfield, visited last year and was fascinated by the work being done by the research teams.
Watch the video below to find out more about the difference this kind of research is making.
Background in brief
- The Sheffield centre was first established as a developmental genetics programme in 1997
- It was awarded funding from the Medical Research Council to become a MRC Centre in 2007
- The original Medical Research Committee and Advisory Council was founded in 1913
- Now, the MRC supports 5,700 research staff by employing them or providing grants and fellowships
- The MRC Centre for Developmental and Biomedical Genetics is one of 29 centres and charity partnerships under the MRC banner