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. History Origins: 1947-61 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