network
News from the
Medical Research Council
Spring 2014
Leading science for better health
to
MEASURE
How some MRC scientific workshops are making
custom-made kit to enable pioneering research
Living healthier for longer
Supporting innovative ageing research through
the Lifelong Health and Wellbeing initiative
Sharing data saves lives
Opinions from two MRC researchers
Network can also be downloaded as a PDF at:
www.mrc.ac.uk/network
CONTENTS
News
£39.1m for improving data research Science festival fun Let’s talk about dementia COMMENT FROM
3
4
7
People
Dr Jane Cope on the power of persuasion NEWS
John
Savill
CHIEF EXECUTIVE
In February, the Minister for
Universities and Science David
Willetts announced a £32m MRC
investment into improving the UK’s
capability in, and capacity for,
medical bioinformatics. His
announcement recognises the
importance and potential of research
using biological and patient data to
reap huge benefits for health.
9
Latest discoveries
Folic acid could suppress Parkinson’s disease 14
New clues to how bacteria evade antibiotics 15
However if amendments to the EU data protection regulation
proposed by the European Parliamentary Committee go
ahead, the potential of investments to tackle data challenges
will be severely limited.
Funding
New biological imaging at Diamond Funding five more years of research 20
21
Features
Made to measure10
Living healthier for longer 12
My work space: Professor Ian Deary 16
Working life: Professor Susan Gathercole 18
Opinion: Sharing data saves lives
22
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Vital research using personal data would be at worst illegal,
and at best unworkable. Millions of individuals across Europe
have given consent for their data to be used in health
research via initiatives such as cohort studies and biobanks.
But amendments mean use of personal data without specific
consent would be prohibited; such research is already subject
to ethical approval and strict confidentiality safeguards.
Legislation must both protect the interests of individuals and
enable research that benefits all society. If you have
European partners or collaborators, please encourage them
to urge their own Government to maintain the Commission’s
text on Articles 81 and 83 and oppose the LIBE Committee’s
amendments. There will be little point in having worldleading infrastructure and skills for bioinformatics with no
data to use.
Sir John Savill
MRC Chief Executive
Read the position of non-commercial research organisations
and academics on the Protecting health and
scientific research in the Data Protection Regulation here
mrc.io/data-protection-regulation
£39.1m for improving
data research
A £32m MRC investment, announced by Universities and Science
Minister David Willetts at the High Performance Computing and
Big Data Conference in London on 6 February, plus an additional
£7.1m, is the latest instalment of a £90m funding initiative to
tackle health and bioinformatics challenges for the advancement
of medical research.
Six major strategic awards will strengthen collaborative links,
improve tools and infrastructure for researchers and support the
safe use of biological and patient data for medical research
across all diseases.
The awards, to Leeds MRC Medical Bioinformatics Centre,
University of Oxford Big Data Institute, MRC/UVRI Medical
Informatics Centre at the MRC/UVRI Uganda Research Unit,
the MRC Consortium for Medical Microbial Bioinformatics led by
Warwick University, the Medical Bioinformatics partnership led
by Imperial College London and University College London
Partners which includes the Francis Crick Institute, will also
support career opportunities for computational scientists,
technologists and programme leaders, enhancing the UK’s skills
in this area.
Mr Willets said: “Making the most of large and complex data is a
huge priority for Government as it has the potential to drive
research and development, increase productivity and innovation
and ultimately transform lives. This funding will help build UK
medical research capability and improve collaboration across
institutions, academia, the NHS and industry.”
Official opening of new metabolic diseases unit
In January, Sir John Savill, Chief Executive of the MRC and Dr Jeremy Farrar, Director of the
Wellcome Trust, officially opened a £10.8m new university research facility – the MRC Metabolic
Disease Unit (MDU).
The MDU is based at the Wellcome Trust-MRC Institute for Metabolic Science (IMS) on the Cambridge Biomedical Campus.
Part of a £24m investment into obesity research, its mission is to improve understanding of the mechanisms responsible for
obesity and related metabolic diseases. The eventual goal is to develop interventions to prevent and treat these diseases.
Sir Steve O’Rahilly, Co-Director of the IMS and Director of the MDU,
said: “This joint initiative from the MRC and the Wellcome Trust will
provide exciting new opportunities to better understand the
fundamental causes of diseases such as obesity and diabetes and
translate that knowledge into improved therapies.”
Sir John Savill said: “Obesity is one of the biggest challenges facing
the future health of the developed world and understanding the
causes and consequences of this condition are a major research
priority. This additional investment from us and the Wellcome Trust
reflects the quality of research undertaken by the University of
Cambridge and lays the foundations for taking basic scientific
discoveries right through to clinical advances.”
From left to right: Patrick Maxwell, Regius Professor of Physic at the University of
Cambridge, Sir Steve O’Rahilly, Director of the MRC Metabolic Diseases Unit and
Co-Director of IMS, Professor Nick Wareham, Director of the MRC Epidemiology
Unit and Co-Director of the IMS, Sir John Savill, MRC Chief Executive, Dr Jeremy
Farrar, Director of the Wellcome Trust and Jane Ramsey, Chairman of Cambridge
University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust.
MRCNetwork | 3
NEWS
Bio-revolution
We are always looking to share our research with the widest
possible audience. That’s why, on 26 February, the Francis
Crick Institute hooked up with the Science Museum’s Lates in
London for an exciting evening looking at the future of
biomedical discovery. Featuring speakers and activities from
the Crick’s six partners, it was an opportunity to explore and
debate cutting-edge research with scientists working at the
forefront of medical research and the public.
Science Museum @sciencemuseum
Wow. Last night’s #smlates was the biggest yet.
Thanks to all 6,916 of you who visited for some
drinking and thinking with us & @TheCrick
Coming soon: look out for our
new website launching this spring
Interested in occupational or
environmental epidemiology?
The 8th UK and Ireland Occupational & Environmental Epidemiology
Meeting will be held on Thursday 3 April 2014 at the National Heart and
Lung Institute at Imperial College in London. Supported by the MRC-PHE
Centre for Environment and Health and Public Health England, the aim of
the meeting is to enable the sharing of knowledge between scientists
with research interests in occupational and environmental epidemiology.
Early career researchers are particularly welcome. Registration details and
other information can be found here lungsatwork.org.uk/courses.php
For further information, contact Magda Wheatley
[email protected]
Wikipedia-writing women
Throughout 2013, as part of our centenary year, the MRC joined forces
with the Royal Society and Wikimedia to present a series of Wikipedia
edit-a-thons. In total, over 90 pages of information on eminent female
scientists were either created or expanded.
The edit-a-thons aimed to improve Wikipedia entries for female
MRC-affiliated scientists and create articles for those who have been
forgotten. The editors, made up of MRC scientists and anyone with an
interest in Wikipedia editing, had access to printed and electronic works
about women in science, including biographies and works authored
by scientists.
Following events at the MRC National Institute for Medical Research;
Royal Society, London; and the MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology,
Cambridge, the last in the series was held at the Royal Society of
Edinburgh in December. A panel discussion on women’s experiences in
science was led by Professor Dame Sally Macintyre, an MRC Council
member, Professor Lesley Yellowlees, president of the Royal Society of
Chemistry and Professor Polly Arnold, winner of the 2012 Royal Society
Science festival fun
Why not come along to some of our MRC
activities at a science festival near you?
Festival season is upon us and many of our world-class research
institutes, units and centres are getting involved in science festivals
around the UK. They will be providing talks about their research as well as
hands-on activities and entertainment for all the family. Here’s a taster of
what’s in store:
• Edinburgh Science Festival (5-20 April)
Visit our Mini Scientists workshop in the City Arts Centre where kids
aged seven and over can race to match chromosomes, build a cell,
create a new virus, solve hearing problems and find ways to make a city
healthier. On Saturday 12 April Dr Owen Brimijoin, of the MRC/Chief
Scientist Office Institute of Hearing Research - Scottish section, will
deliver a talk for adults about our fragile and complex sense of hearing.
www.sciencefestival.co.uk
• Oxford May Music Festival (30 April-5 May)
Look out for Professor Cyrus Cooper, Director of the MRC Lifecourse
Epidemiology Unit, giving a talk about the prevention and treatment of
osteoporosis. www.oxfordmaymusic.co.uk
• Cheltenham Science Festival (3-8 June)
Hear MRC speakers unveil the latest research in dementia and
regenerative medicine and try our hands-on activities in the Discovery
Zone. www.cheltenhamfestivals.com/science
4 | MRCNetwork
Rosalind Franklin Award. Using the award, Professor Arnold created a
short film called ‘A Chemical Imbalance’ about the challenges faced by
women in STEM.
Emma Claire Palmer, an MRC-funded PhD student at the Institute of
Psychiatry (IoP), King’s College London attended the Royal Society event
in London and wrote about Professor Janet Treasure from the IoP: “I had
a fantastic time. Learning to edit was a really great experience and I felt I
had done something good and useful with my time. The evening event
was very inspirational. It was great to see so many women, and men,
brought together to work towards a better representation of women of
STEM in the public eye.”
The next Wikipedia edit-a-thons are on 13 May at the University of
Liverpool and 22 May at the University of Manchester. Book a place on
the workshop in Liverpool at mrc.io/wikipedia-edit-a-thon
Watch the film about challenges faced by women in STEM here
www.chemicalimbalance.co.uk
Have you done our hearing
experiment yet?
Visit www.100yearsofamplifiedmusic.org to join over 4,500
people who have so far taken part in our online hearing
experiment, to help MRC Institute of Hearing Research scientists
reach their target of 10,000 participants and learn more about
hearing loss. The results of the experiment will be announced by
Dr Michael Akeroyd at the Acoustical Society of America meeting
in May and will be published on our blog, MRC Insight.
Look out for updates here www.insight.mrc.ac.uk
Celebrating 100 years in world-leading biostatistics research
100 years on from the MRC’s decision to establish a
statistical unit and appoint its first Director, infectious
disease specialist Dr John Brownlee, the MRC
Biostatistics Unit is celebrating its centenary.
A highlight of the celebrations was the MRC
Conference on Biostatistics from the 24-26 March at
Queens’ College, Cambridge. With an exciting line-up
of speakers from the UK, Europe and the US,
it attracted more than 200 UK and international
delegates. Besides reviewing statistical and medical
issues across a century of the unit’s work, it was
forward-looking and set the scene for how
biostatistical research is expected to deliver in
the future.
You can find videos of key talks, speakers’ abstracts and
information about other centenary events here
www.mrc-bsu.cam.ac.uk/mrccob2014.html
MRCNetwork | 5
NEWS
Macaque research at the MRC
Two new MRC-made films give viewers an insight into why macaques
are so valuable in some areas of medical research.
The MRC’s Centre for Macaques breeds rhesus macaques for use in
medical research in academic institutions in the UK. Using macaques
from the centre means that researchers and those who fund or
regulate research can be sure the animals were bred in conditions that
meet high welfare standards.
Macaques are non-human primates with body systems similar to
humans – such as their immune and nervous systems – which make
them good research ‘models’ for a variety of human conditions.
The films feature neuroscientist Dr Andrew Jackson, who uses
macaques to study how brain signals control movement. He aims
to help paralysed people control external devices, such as robotic
arms or wheelchairs, with their thoughts.
talk about
Let’s
dementia
Watch the films here mrc.io/macaque-research
Virtual reality treatment
for paranoia
Researchers at the University of Oxford are using virtual
reality simulation to assess the role of adjusted height on
levels of mistrust and paranoid thoughts.
The research, led by MRC Senior Clinical Fellow Professor
Daniel Freeman, shows that in those prone to having
‘mistrustful thoughts’, experiencing a social situation
from a lower height, using a virtual reality simulation of a
London Underground Tube journey, can make people feel
more inferior and excessively mistrustful.
Intrigued? Read more about the research online
in Psychiatry Research www.psy-journal.com or
watch our film capturing the research in action
mrc.io/virtual-research
In February, the MRC with the International Longevity Centre-UK (ILC), Alzheimer’s Research UK and the
Alzheimer’s Society co-funded a workshop at the House of Lords, to discuss stigma and dementia.
A priority following the G8 dementia summit is to increase the impact of research into the dementias,
to address the growing global burden of neurodegenerative disease. Talking openly about dementia
in society is an important step of the process.
The workshop brought together funders, parliamentarians and
researchers from diverse backgrounds, including healthcare and
cognitive psychology, to discuss the significance of stigma and how it
may considerably worsen disease symptoms.
Attendees advocated the need for solidarity and behavioural change, as
well as to treat people with dementia with respect and provide support,
as recommended in the 2009 Nuffield Council on Bioethics report. On
discussing stigma as a new area for biomedical research, the jury was
out: have we considered all contributing factors, and should we focus
more on understanding the biology – the neural mechanisms behind
the perceptions and responses which manifest as stigma?
Professor Hugh Perry, Chair of the MRC Neuroscience and Mental
Health Board, attended the workshop: “Bringing stigma to the forefront
6 | MRCNetwork
and having a conversation about mental health, as you would about
other illnesses, is hugely important for the diagnosis of dementias. If we
can encourage people with early signs of disease to come forward and
be diagnosed, they will benefit from the available support and,
ultimately, new therapeutic approaches coming from research.”
Baroness Sally Greengross, Chief Executive of the International
Longevity Centre-UK and Chair of the All Party Parliamentary Group on
Dementia, said: “As dementia numbers rise, our services and society
must respond. However, we’re at risk of falling at the first hurdle if we
cannot address the problem of stigma.”
Outcomes from the workshop will go into a compendium report
entitled ‘New perspectives and approaches to understanding dementia
and stigma’ to be published this summer.
MRCNetwork | 7
PEOPLE
Thepowerof
persuasion
Following her retirement after 30 years working for the MRC and the
National Cancer Research Institute, Dr Jane Cope reflects on the
importance, and the challenges, of bringing together hearts and minds.
On joining the MRC in 1983 I was asked to manage the new Working
Party on AIDS. It was excellent training. I was fortunate to be able to see
from the inside how the biomedical community tackles a new, and fatal,
disease. Soon afterwards, a small team of us were working full-time on
AIDS initiatives and I was privileged to work with some top MRC
scientists, including Max Perutz and Richard Doll.
On one memorable day, Sir James Gowans, the MRC Chief Executive at
the time, asked me to write on one sheet of paper how I would spend £1
million (worth more in the 1980s) on AIDS research, and to let him have it
by 4pm that day! That one page was expanded into our bid for the MRC
AIDS Directed Programme, aimed at vaccine and drug development. We
used the money to persuade the top labs in virology and immunology to
take on AIDS-related research projects, alongside their main work.
In 1992, after two years as secretary to one the MRC’s research boards, I
moved to Hammersmith Hospital to help set up the MRC Clinical
Sciences Centre. This provided political challenges, and taught me about
the importance of appealing to hearts and minds.
Persuading the MRC teams, as well as our colleagues in the NHS and the
Royal Postgraduate Medical School (now part of Imperial College) of the
benefits of bringing the MRC’s efforts together under a single director
was no easy task. It was not helped when plans to reorganise the NHS in
London temporarily threatened the closure of Hammersmith Hospital.
In 1999 I crossed London to set up the MRC Regional Centre London to
provide administrative services to MRC units and groups in UCL and
other universities on that side of town; this also involved a lot of
persuasion and change management.
Finally, after a brief return to MRC Head Office, where I coordinated work
on the MRC strategic plan published in 2004, I began my last posting – a
secondment as Director of the National Cancer Research Institute (NCRI).
The NCRI partnership brings together government, charity and industry
8 | MRCNetwork
funders of cancer research to tackle problems that cannot easily be
addressed by funders individually. The Secretariat team needs not only
to be skilled in relationship management but also to be able to take a
bird’s-eye view of the whole cancer scene and identify opportunities for
joining up people and activities. In this way, the NCRI has helped partners
to collectively boost research in areas of need such as radiotherapy,
palliative care and early diagnosis of cancer, and to coordinate research
resources such as biobanking. More recently we established a closer
working relationship with the clinical trials community which had been
separately managed in the past.
One of the most fulfilling aspects of my career in research management
has been working with patients and carers as lay committee members,
advisors and research participants. Such involvement is particularly
strong in cancer. For example, researchers running a trial in prostate
cancer, known as ProtecT, consulted groups of patients about how they
would prefer to be approached about participating and how the trial was
described to them. When the results were implemented, the acceptance
rate for the study rose from 40 per cent to 70 per cent of those asked. It
is both heart-warming and humbling to work with people who are facing,
or who have faced, the challenges of serious illness and debilitating
treatment, and who then want to contribute to research that will help
others. Their experience brings an added dimension to, and strengthens,
the research effort.
In summary, the last 30 years have been about working with people and
organisations with differing agendas. Helping them to find common
ground enables the delivery of high-quality research and the best return
on investment – for the benefit of patients, the public and our society as
a whole. I am fortunate that I found the right niche and had some
wonderful experiences along the way.
Read about Jane’s experience of the changing relationship between
clinical trial researchers and patients on our blog, MRC Insight.
www.insight.mrc.ac.uk
One in 30 in the UK
participate in cohort studies
A new MRC review has highlighted that around
2.2m people in the UK are currently
participating in cohort studies, helping to
understand and improve human health.
Following population subgroups – or cohorts – over time is a vital
medical research tool which enables us to understand the role of
biological, environmental and lifestyle factors shaping human health.
Cohort study members agree to have information on their health and
lifestyle collected over many years in a number of ways. Many cohorts
hold regular physical assessments, collect biological samples and conduct
cognitive tests, while others use health records or questionnaires to
follow participants.
MRC Chief Executive Sir John Savill commented: “A striking feature
to emerge from the review is the number of people in the UK who
participate in cohort studies – around 3.5 per cent of the population.
We owe them a debt of gratitude for their time and cooperation.”
The MRC Cohort Strategic Review showcases for the first time the
34 largest population cohorts in the UK, 19 of which were partially or fully
funded by the MRC. Our 50-year history of supporting population cohort
studies includes the world’s longest continuously running birth cohort
(1946 Birth Cohort) and the largest longitudinal study of women’s health
(Million Women Study). The value of cohorts is demonstrated by one of
the most influential MRC-funded studies to impact health on the global
scale, done by Richard Doll in the 1950s. He studied a cohort of GPs which
first identified the link between smoking and lung cancer.
Over half a million people are currently part of UK Biobank and soon the
entire cohort will be genotyped. Combining lifestyle and environmental
measures with state-of-the-art biological analyses will greatly increase
the potential for new scientific advances to improve health.
The use of personal health data is
fundamental to improving patient care
and public health and we are committed
to ensuring the safe and secure use of
this data.
Maximising the value of UK population
cohorts: MRC Strategic Review of the
Largest UK Population Cohort Studies is
available here
www.mrc.ac.uk/populationcohortreview
MRCNetwork | 9
FEATURE
Inside the MRC NIMR’s mechanical workshop
to
Making magnets for microscopes
MEASURE
The MRC runs a range of apprenticeship programmes, including the
Engineering and Estates apprenticeship programme at Harwell. It has
been running for five years and continues to be a success.
Apprenticeships are work-based training programmes, for people over 16
years old who are not in full-time education, designed around the needs
of the organisation, leading to nationally recognised qualifications.
Carrying out pioneering research can require unusual custom-made kit.
Katherine Nightingale speaks to some of the people who work in
scientific workshops, and the scientists who benefit.
In a small room in the bowels of the MRC National Institute for Medical
Research (NIMR), researchers in the Margrie Laboratory are using a serial
microscope to image the entire adult mouse brain. To do this they need
to sequentially cut thin slices of the brain (50 micrometres thick) using a
vibrating razor called a vibratome. As each slice is removed, the
microscope photographs the exposed surface of brain. After three days,
they will have 3.2 terabytes of digital images, and a pile of about 350
brain slices sitting at the bottom of a container. While the digital data is
safely stored on servers, what happens to the brain slices?
As the head of the laboratory Troy Margrie, says, “We might want to keep
particular slices of brain for further study, and the slices we want will be
buried in a pile with no way of us knowing which one is which.” This is
where the institute’s workshops come in.
Troy and his team are working with Martyn Stopps, who runs the NIMR’s
electronic engineering workshop, to come up with an automated way of
reliably collecting and cataloguing
the brain slices. Developing the
system has been a highly
collaborative process, says Troy.
“It’s a case of coming to Martyn
with the research problem, and
beginning a dialogue about how it
The vibratome is a vibrating razor
can be solved.”
used to cut thin slices of the brain
The brain slices are precious because they capture the result of a new
technique developed by Troy’s lab. It involves detecting the activity of a
single neuron, and then delivering a virus to it. The virus produces a
fluorescent protein, which then spreads to reveal the brain-wide
connectivity of that cell. When researchers stimulate visual pathways,
they can see how the neuron responds, and, crucially, which of the many
millions of cells in the brain are connected to it. By finding out how the
brain is wired, Troy and his team hope to gain insights into what happens
when the brain is mis-wired in conditions such as schizophrenia
or autism.
By working together they have found a solution to the problem. Martyn
and his colleague Nicholas Burczyk have designed a new device to handle
the brain slices, as well as a slice storage system. They have combined
this with an off-the-shelf robotic arm and control system, which they
are now programming. The robotic arm grabs each brain slice as it’s
released and places it into a specific location in the custom-designed
storage carousel.
It’s not unusual to have to develop new technologies or adapt
commercial equipment, says Martyn: “The nature of our job is to design
new things and quite often that involves using new techniques we’ve
never used before. You have to be really flexible.”
That sentiment is echoed by Owen Brimijoin, a researcher at the MRC
Institute of Hearing Research (IHR). “Science by its nature can’t usually
be accomplished with readily available off-the-shelf tools. If you’re doing
it right then what you’re doing is new, so there’s no equipment out there
that you can use.”
Owen’s research looks at how both hearing-impaired people and people
with normal hearing make sense of the moving, three-dimensional
auditory world. “We use information about where sound comes from to
help us hear in noisy backgrounds, but hearing aids aren’t very good at
telling you where that sound is coming from.”
10 | MRCNetwork
This robotic arm is designed to grab each brain
slice as it’s released and store them safely
This circle of loudspeakers, representing the 3D auditory
world, is used to study how we listen in the real world
Jessica Monk joined the programme in August 2013 and is one of four
apprentices working in the team: “As this is my first year, I spend time
both at college and the workplace. I find this really helpful as I am able to
combine theory and practical work. In the workplace I have a range of
different projects, including making magnets for microscopes and
building lab stations out of Perspex. My manager will give me a drawing
of something to make that often involves a variety of different
machining skills. Sometimes I have to adjust the drawing or think of new
ways to make the items. I really enjoy what I am doing and would like to
be a mechanical engineer. I also enjoy being part of a wider group of
apprentices so that we can share ideas or experiences.”
To find out more about apprenticeships visit www.apprenticeships.org.uk
Owen has worked with colleagues in the IHR’s workshop to make a
‘sound ring’, a circle of loudspeakers in which a person sits, and has
combined this with motion-capture technology. This means they can
move sounds around in the ring dependent on the way someone is
facing. “This is helping us to create a realistic picture of how people listen
in the real world,” says Owen. “All the wiring, electronics and
programming were done in-house, and that’s immensely valuable.”
At the other end of the spectrum from robotic arms and motion capture,
back at the NIMR, head of the mechanical workshop Alan Ling and his
team produce anything from intricate metal components that focus laser
beams to one-off housing boxes for microscopes.
“We make things that scientists can’t buy, or modify them to suit. We’re
pretty well equipped — we can make most things here.” Sometimes
scientists bring sketches of what they want down to the basement
workshop. “We’re below the canteen, so lunchtime is always a busy time
with people popping down to say ‘Oh, can you just do this?’”
Commissioning external companies would be expensive, says Martyn.
And it also requires careful briefing to make sure the product is exactly
right. Having people onsite means that the process can be iterative.
As Owen sums it up: “People in-house have a better understanding of
what you do more than anyone outside could. They know exactly what
it is you’re trying to do.”
MRCNetwork | 11
FEATURE
Living healthier
for
longer
As a population we can expect to live longer than ever before, but it’s
important that these extra years are healthy and productive. New
funding from Lifelong Health and Wellbeing (LLHW) is helping researchers
work out how we can extend our working lives in a practical way.
The MRC LLHW team reports.
Extending Working Lives
Lifelong Health and Wellbeing (LLHW) is a cross-research council
initiative, addressing the challenges of our ageing population,
including working later in life. The MRC leads LLHW on behalf of
four other research councils* with additional funding from the
UK Health Departments.
Abolition of the default retirement age, rising state pension age and
an ageing population mean that an increasing proportion of the UK
workforce is over 60. According to current projections, a child born in
2013 can expect to work until they are 77. However the impacts that
our extended working lives will have on health are unknown.
Chair of the LLHW Advisory Group of Experts, Professor David
Armstrong, says: “We need to know more about what factors mean
a person can or can’t work into their older age”.
Our discussions with large employers indicated that many challenges
relating to the ageing workforce could be tackled through research
partnerships of employers with academics from the health and social
sciences. To facilitate collaborations, the MRC and ESRC committed
£6m to support eight exciting interdisciplinary research consortia to
understand the relationship between health, work and wellbeing, and
the determinants of working later in life.
The aim of the Extending Working Lives awards is to link existing national
and international cohort studies and surveys to routine health and
administrative records and, significantly, to data sets within the
commercial sector which are not normally accessible to researchers.
12 | MRCNetwork
The awards involve new collaborations between researchers and
public and private employers. In total there are over 50 academic and
non-academic partners participating in the eight projects.
Ensuring that research outcomes inform future policy development is
extremely important. For this reason, the Department for Work and
Pensions has worked closely with LLHW in developing this funding
initiative, and will continue to do so by hosting meetings with the
researchers and other government departments.
Commenting on the initiative David says: “This is just the first step in
addressing the national challenge of extending working lives — a task
that involves collaboration across many sectors.”
Interview with an LLHW researcher
Philip Rowe is a Professor of Rehabilitation Science at the
University of Strathclyde. He talked to Cara Steger about envisage,
his LLHW-funded research project which uses innovative visual
technologies to improve rehabilitation practice.
Value of 2013 Awards (£m)
Total LLHW funding (£m)
44 per cent of all LLHW funding
was awarded in 2013 for
multidisciplinary research to help
us stay healthier in later life.
Promoting physical activity
and wellbeing
In 2013 the LLHW funding partners awarded £15.5m, in the areas of
cognition, design for wellbeing and physical activity, towards improving
the lives of older people.
• £4m was awarded to five projects on promoting physical activity,
including studying the effect of physical activity on bone mineral
density and muscle function, and identifying the determinants of
sedentary behaviour.
• £8m was awarded to seven projects exploring how the built
environment can facilitate mobility and physical activity among older
people within the community.
• The Centre for Cognitive Ageing and Cognitive Epidemiology (CCACE)
in Edinburgh was awarded renewed funding of £3.5m. Find out more
about CCACE research by exploring LLHW-funded researcher Professor
Ian Deary’s work space on page 16.
For LLHW-funded research updates and to learn more about the initiative
visit www.mrc.ac.uk/LLHW • Follow LLHW on Twitter: @LLHWresearch
Read more on our blog, MRC Insight mrc.io/extending-working-lives
*AHRC, Arts & Humanities Research Council; BBSRC, Biotechnology and
Biological Sciences Research Council; EPSRC, Engineering and Physical
Sciences Research Council, and ESRC, Economic and Social
Research Council.
A working workshop
In 2013 LLHW held a workshop to tackle uncharted territory of
multidisciplinary research conducted in the workplace. Katie Finch,
MRC Programme Manager of the LLHW scheme, explains how a new
model for building research partnerships could help find the answer on
our blog, MRC Insight mrc.io/working-workshop
Can you tell us a bit about envisage?
The envisage project is about promoting independence among stroke,
falls and joint-replacement patients. New visual technologies are used
to help patients visualise the stresses and movements of their muscles
and joints. This information helps patients and non-specialist
professionals to understand the rehabilitation process.
50 different academic, international,
charity, employers and policy
organisations are part of the Extended
Working Lives awards
UK academic partners
International academic partners
Non-academic partners
(including employers and
policy makers)
What influence has LLHW funding had on your career?
LLHW allowed me to apply for something I had wanted to apply for
since my PhD. With the envisage project, we’ve been able to engineer
technology and test it in practice. This means that the technology is
well-applied and can have a greater patient impact. Had this funding not
come along, I probably would have reverted to being a straightforward
engineering researcher.
Has your work become more interdisciplinary as a result
of LLHW funding?
My career focus was interdisciplinary from the start, but the
opportunities for this type of research were not available when
I wanted them. Now that the research councils work more
closely together, my area of research and my career trajectory
have been accelerated.
What impact has the envisage project had?
The local hospital in Strathclyde has invested in a human biomechanical
movement science lab, due in part to the success of envisage. We are
also in partnership with a company making visualisation software for
the rehabilitation market. They need partners like us who understand
the clinical side.
To read the full interview and more about envisage, visit
www.mrc.ac.uk/LLHW and www.envisagerehab.co.uk
MRCNetwork | 13
LATEST DISCOVERIES
Genetic mutations shed light
on schizophrenia
Folic acid could suppress
Parkinson’s disease
New clues to how bacteria
evade antibiotics
Potential drug treatment
to tackle viruses
An international team, led by Cardiff University’s MRC Centre for
Neuropsychiatric Genetics and Genomics, has discovered new
genetic mutations in people with schizophrenia which have
similarities to those causing other neurodevelopmental disorders.
MRC Toxicology Unit scientists have discovered that the common
vitamin folic acid (vitamin B9), can improve cell signalling and rescue
problems associated with neurodegenerative diseases such as
Parkinson’s disease.
Scientists at the MRC Centre for Molecular Bacteriology and
Infection (CMBI) at Imperial College London have revealed how a
subset of bacterial cells can escape being killed by antibiotics.
Scientists have developed a new compound which shows promise
for preventing a range of viruses from infecting humans.
With the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York, the
Broad Institute of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and
Harvard and Cambridge Universities, the team examined DNA
blood samples from 623 sufferers and their parents.
They discovered that new mutations, found in affected individuals
but not their parents, play a role in triggering schizophrenia. The
mutations disrupt specific sets of proteins, involved in pathways
with important roles in brain development, learning, memory and
cognition. They also found some overlap with genetic mutations
causing autism and intellectual disability.
The team, led by MRC Programme Leader Dr L. Miguel Martins, was
investigating chemical pathways in the cells of fruit flies. They
identified an unexpected pathway that, through the manipulation
of a particular gene, led to the creation of a ‘super-fly’. These flies
moved faster, had more energy and were resistant to mitochondrial
poisons, combatting the effects of Parkinson’s features.
Providing cells with a key product, in this case folic acid, that
improves their signalling, stimulated mitochondria – the
‘powerhouses’ of cells – and stopped presentation of Parkinson’s
disease symptoms, both in flies and cultured human cells.
Many bacterial pathogens cause persistent infection despite
exposure to multiple antibiotics. But little is known about how
persisting cells arise. The team developed a method for tracking
single cells using a fluorescent protein produced by the bacteria.
Upon infection, Salmonella were engulfed by immune cells called
macrophages and formed large numbers of non-replicating
‘persisters’. The non-replicating subpopulation, with enhanced
survival characteristics, was able to tolerate antibiotic exposure.
The tolerant phase was only temporary but may contribute to later
development of resistance.
Researchers from Oxford, Leeds and Diamond Light Source, UK;
Beijing, China; and Innsbruck, Austria, collaborated on the inhibitor
compound. It targets a group of viruses responsible for hand,
foot and mouth disease, especially the HEV71 virus – a human
enterovirus – which can cause fatal disease and is
currently untreatable.
After solving the structure of HEV71 in 2012, they studied how
the virus changes shape in order to enter host cells. Once inside,
the outer shell of the virus breaks apart, releasing viral RNA. By
disabling the mechanism which breaks the shell, the compound
prevents viral infection of the host.
Professor Dave Stuart, MRC Research Professor at the University of
Oxford and Life Science Director at Diamond, worked on the new
inhibitor: “By targeting a structural feature also found in related
viruses, it should be possible to devise similar therapeutics to target
them. Within the field, I am aware of one company that is already
making progress in targeting the major common cold virus. Our work
is still at an early stage, but we are working with academic groups in
China to take the hand, foot and mouth disease inhibitor forward.”
Professor Mike Owen, who co-led the research with Professor Mick
O’Donovan, said: “We already had evidence supporting the
importance of these pathways, but the new findings, together with
those from another study published in the same issue of Nature,
confirm the importance of these and related sets of proteins.”
Published online at www.nature.com/nsmb, February 2014
Dr Martins said: “The results indicate that folic acid enhances the
generation of new mitochondria which protects the neurons that
die in Parkinson’s disease. This opens-up the exciting possibility
that diets rich in this vitamin or supplements could play a role in
protecting mitochondria and therefore prevent or delay
neurodegenerative diseases associated with mitochondrial
problems such as Parkinson’s disease.”
Professor O’Donovan said: “Identifying a degree of overlap between
the underlying causes of schizophrenia and those in autism and
intellectual disability suggests that these disorders might share
some common mechanisms and supports calls for research that
integrates findings across multiple disorders.”
Published online at www.nature.com/ncb, January 2014
Dr Sophie Helaine, a lead author, explained: “Now we know the
molecular pathways and mechanisms that lead to persister
formation during infection, we can work on screening for new drugs
to coax them out of this state so that they become vulnerable
to antibiotics.”
The other lead author, Professor David Holden, Director of the MRC
CMBI, said: “One of the most striking findings is that conditions
inside immune cells activate two different responses from
Salmonella, causing some bacteria to replicate and others to enter
a non-replicating persister state. Activating these two responses
together is likely to be an important mechanism by which Salmonella
survives during infection.”
Published online at www.sciencemag.org, January 2014
Published online at www.nature.com, January 2014
ITV Central interviewed Dr Martins in February about the discovery.
You can watch the full news report here mrc.io/leicester-itvnews
14 | MRCNetwork
Read more discoveries from the past 100 years on
our timeline www.centenary.mrc.ac.uk/timeline
MRCNetwork | 15
MY WORK SPACE
Ian Deary is Professor of Differential
Psychology at the University of Edinburgh
and Director of the Lifelong Health and
Wellbeing-funded Centre for Cognitive Ageing
and Cognitive Epidemiology. He showed
Hazel Lambert around his huge office where
airy windows framed by wood-panelled walls
overlook George Square gardens.
Standing desk
I’d always liked standing to read if I was thinking about something, sometimes walking up and
down. So I thought, why not get a standing desk? It can go up and down. It was a bit of a
surprise, because once I got it I didn’t put it back down again; I do all my writing and work and
reading at this standing desk and I find it very refreshing to be able to do that. I have four
computer screens, making a single large one. I’ve always wanted a ‘desktop’ to be a desktop. If
you have a proper desk you spread things around on it. It seemed limiting to have one little
screen and to have everything piled on top of it. With four screens you can spread things
around. But I think probably the best object in the whole room, are the three large windows;
it’s a lovely outlook.
Read more about the Lifelong Health and
Wellbeing programme on page 12
Alumnus of the Year Award
I think this is quite an attractive object. It’s made of copper and is
extremely heavy. It was made by a student at Glasgow Caledonian
University; it was my award for Alumnus of the Year in 2009. Before I did
my medical degree I first did a Higher National Certificate in Medical
Laboratory Sciences at Glasgow College of Technology, which then
changed into Glasgow Caledonian University. They considered me one
of their alumni. So, even before I came to Edinburgh University to do my
medical degree I had that medical laboratory background. It was great
training. Some of the best teaching I ever received was in the Higher
National Certificate. It was an unusual route to university.
Dr James Drever’s chair
This chair was presented to Dr James Drever in 1931 by the staff of the
George Combe Psychological Laboratory on the occasion of his
appointment as the first Professor of Psychology in the University of
Edinburgh. His son was the second. It’s not particularly comfortable; it
does still get used though when my meetings are too big.
Cardboard bike mat
I cycle three and a half miles to work and back in all weathers.
Sometimes it’s wet and I don’t like to get marks on the University’s
carpet, so I put this torn up potato crisp box under the bike years ago.
The bike oil and mud have accumulated a bit on the cardboard, but the
carpet underneath is clean, so it’s done its job..
Portrait of Godfrey Thompson
This is a portrait of Godfrey Thompson by R.H. Westwater (who also
did Compton Mackenzie and Hugh MacDiarmid). It was painted when
he was knighted. Thomson devised the mental test that was used in
the Scottish Mental Surveys. A lot of my research is based on
following-up the research he did from the 30s to the 50s. As I did
more research on the Scottish Mental Surveys, I also wanted to learn
more about Godfrey Thompson’s work and life. He was a talented
statistician who published a lot on the structure and importance of
human intelligence differences.
The Borderland (by Sir Arthur Streeton)
The view is of the Eildon hills and the river Tweed. It’s actually Sir Walter
Scott’s view, and he’s interposed the Kelso Bridge. Scott’s view is near the
beginning of the St Cuthbert’s Way that I walked with my father and my
son just a couple of years ago, so the picture had all sorts of things going
right for it.
Portrait of Sir Francis Galton
This is a likeness of Sir Francis Galton surrounded by all the things he
discovered; for example the anticyclone in weather mapping and the
normal curve for heights. My approach in psychology is to understand
the nature and causes of individual differences in psychological traits. He
was the first to try and systematise the study of individual differences in
cognition and personality.
Books
These are the four books I’ve written. Intelligence: A Very Short
Introduction has been translated into 10 different languages. I’ve tried
to keep at least one copy in each language. I also like to keep the great
historical books in my area as well. The blue books on the second shelf
are all the studies of the Scottish Mental Surveys that my research is
based on. I refer to them a great deal. It’s surprising how often you need
to go back to a result that was collected in the 30s, 40s or 50s.
Find out more about the Lifelong Health and Wellbeing-funded
Centre for Cognitive Ageing and Cognitive Epidemiology here
www.ccace.ed.ac.uk
16 | MRCNetwork
MRCNetwork | 17
WORKING LIFE
Professor Susan Gathercole, Director of the MRC Cognition and Brain
Sciences Unit (CBU), Cambridge
“To succeed in this
career, you have to
be prepared to
make firm decisions
about what you can
and can't do, and
the time you will
put to it”
We observe children in the classroom, develop robust methods to identify
the nature of underlying problems, conduct experiments to understand the
cognitive processes and use new methods to intervene. To do this, we work
closely alongside other professionals, such as specialist teachers, speech
and language therapists, educational psychologists and paediatricians.
An exciting development this year is that we set up a research clinic
to assess cognitive skills of children with a range of specific learning
difficulties. Using brain scanning and genetic methods, we aim to build up
a picture of how cognition and behaviour fit together in common patterns,
across what are traditionally thought of as different disorders, such as
attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and dyslexia.
The CBU (previously the Applied Psychology Unit) is a very special place to
do this research, with a history spanning nearly 70 years of ground-breaking
research on cognition. It’s a unique place to work – we’re in a beautiful
Georgian house close to central Cambridge with lovely gardens. History
has it that the first director of the unit, a university employee, personally
bought this house and then informed the MRC they needed to reimburse
him the price!
The building may look traditional from the front, but we’ve got highly
specialised facilities on site. A state-of-the-art magnetic resonance imaging
(MRI) machine looks at the fine-grained structure of the brain, and a
Suffrage Science
On International Women’s Day in 2013, Susan was one of 12 scientists
to be honoured with a Suffrage Science heirloom for her achievements
in science.
Professor Susan Gathercole at the MRC Cognition and Brain Sciences Unit, wearing her 2013 Suffrage Science lapel pin heirloom.
There’s something rather special about being an MRC director. You need to know what everybody’s doing
and they need your support and direction. We have a very close and productive community, a place that
doesn’t have much regard for hierarchy; I’m completely in support of that.
I decided to study psychology after attending a lunchtime lecture in my
sixth form on Freud, in the days before it was routinely taught in schools.
Understanding our mental lives seemed much more interesting and
relevant than any subjects I’d studied before. I was fortunate to get into a
degree course in psychology that had just started at York University, and
was taught by young and inspiring lecturers.
Career in brief
• PhD in psychology at City University London.
• Specialised in cognitive psychology.
• Career highlight: Returning to the CBU as director in 2011, having completed a four year post as a junior scientist at the unit in 1988.
18 | MRCNetwork
The field of psychology that still engages me most, 35 years after
graduating, is cognition. For me it’s the heart of the discipline, focusing on
the processes and systems involved in the higher mental processes that are
central to adaptable human behaviour. Research has been transformed, in
the past 15 years, by the development of cognitive neuroscience methods
that enable us to understand how cognition is embedded the brain.
My particular interests are in the areas of memory, attention, language
and learning. I investigate how these systems operate during childhood,
the period of life when learning is most vital. Much of our work focuses
on how these can go wrong during development, leading to difficulties in
reading, mathematics, language and attention control. The ultimate goal is
to improve children’s outcomes by developing interventions and effective
methods of educational support.
magnetoencephalography (MEG) facility gives us the precise temporal
resolution needed to understand how brain activity changes millisecond
by millisecond. Combining these techniques, we get a really good set of
insights into how the brain works.
My day-to-day work is a mix of research and administration, as well as
strategic thinking and direction. A lot of my time is spent liaising with
people within and outside Cambridge, finding ways to move forward that
go beyond the unit; a very exciting prospect. Protecting my time
for research is probably the biggest challenge.
The most pleasurable activity for me is writing. I really love crafting written
language to convey findings and ideas in a simple way. A few years ago I
wrote a practical guide for teachers, as a lot of what I do is relevant to the
classroom. I wanted to write a book that wasn’t clogged up with academic
language and references. I wrote it in eight weeks and could think of
nothing else; it was quite a relief to finish it.
Being an academic provides a degree of flexibility you won’t find in many
other professions. I’ve got five children, aged between 13 and 27. To
succeed in this career, you have to be prepared to make firm decisions
about what you can and can’t do, and the time you will put to it.
The highlight of my career has undoubtedly been coming back to the
CBU as director. I was contacted to suggest potential candidates for the
position by the head hunter, without being asked if I was interested in
applying myself! But encouraged by others, I applied anyway. It has meant
that I can play a role in preserving the core values of the CBU: understand
cognition, use the highest quality methods guided by innovative theory
and try to make a difference.
Find out more here www.mrc-cbu.cam.ac.uk
The bespoke jewellery heirlooms were designed by students from
Central Saint Martins UAL. The awards scheme draws its inspiration from
the presentation of jewellery to members of the suffrage movement.
Launched in 2011 by the MRC Clinical Sciences Centre, 44 women
scientists and communicators have now been honoured with an heirloom.
Susan will pass her heirloom on to a nominee of her own choosing in
2015. “It was a lovely surprise to have been recognised and honoured
in this way. The passing-on element of this award will help to encourage
others in the future.”
International Women’s Day this year was marked by the distribution
of a beautiful lapel pin (pictured), designed by undergraduate jewellery
designer, Woo Seok Jeon. His design, which fuses the male and female
insignias to symbolise gender equality, will also be manufactured
as cuff-links.
The 2014 annual awards ceremony will take place this summer in
partnership with L’Oréal.
For more information about the Suffrage Science project, check for
updates at www.csc.mrc.ac.uk/PublicScience/FabricsOfLife
MRCNetwork | 19
FUNDING
Biological imaging at Diamond
The MRC, with the Wellcome Trust and the
Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research
Council, has granted £15.6m for a new biological
cryo-electron microscopy imaging centre at
Diamond Light Source.
The new centre will be co-located with one of Diamond’s Phase III
beamlines – the X-ray nanoprobe – in a new purpose-built building
alongside the landmark silver doughnut-shaped synchrotron on the
Harwell Campus. Operating like a beamline, it will complement
Diamond’s current capabilities.
Powerful cryo-electron microscopes will probe cells to advance
understanding at the molecular level and provide new tools for
visualising single bio-molecules. The facility will offer a centralised
approach for broad, cost-effective access to specialised techniques.
It will be accessed through peer review and open to UK, EU and other
international scientists.
Professor Dave Stuart, MRC Research Professor at the University of
Oxford and Life Science Director at Diamond, said: “This new investment
will provide a unique approach which will integrate the activities of the
synchrotron and the capabilities of electron microscopy. It will create a
new synergy between the scientific techniques on offer. It is hoped that
through this major advances in visualising of sub cellular mechanisms will
be made.”
For more information, contact Silvana Westbury, PR Manager, Diamond
Light Source silvana:[email protected]
For the latest information on MRC funding opportunities,
visit www.mrc.ac.uk/fundingopportunities
Funding five more years of research
Harwell, Oxford
The Research Complex at Harwell (RCaH) has been awarded a funding
renewal of £11m by the MRC, STFC, BBSRC, EPSRC, NERC and Diamond
Light Source to enable continued operation of this leading multidisciplinary centre of scientific excellence. The building is managed as a
‘research hotel’ with core funding for the Director, core staff and access
to a centrally-managed equipment base. This support enables both life
and physical sciences groups to base RCUK-funded science programmes
on-site, providing stability for long-term groups to tackle challenging
problems and take advantage of the proximity to Diamond and other
facilities on the Harwell Campus.
Director Professor Simon Phillips said: “I am delighted that RCaH funding
has been extended until 2019. Since the laboratory opened in 2010 it has
grown rapidly to house a remarkable multidisciplinary community of
physicists, chemists and engineers as well as biomedical scientists.
We now have a unique opportunity to work together and apply novel
techniques in imaging, time-resolved methods and structural biology to
a range of challenges, not only in biology and medicine, but also in novel
materials, engineering and industrial processes.”
Cardiff
“A major focus over the next five years will be to continue this work and
to understand how genetic risk impacts on psychiatric symptoms and
brain function both across and within current diagnostic categories. We
will also look at how risk genes lead to illness, essential if we are to
understand the mechanisms by which these disorders come about.
These advances will be crucial if we are to develop novel and more
effective treatments for these disabling conditions.”
The MRC Centre for Neuropsychiatric Genetics and Genomics (CNGG)
has been awarded continued MRC funding of £2.3m until 2019, with
10 per cent co-funding from the National Institute for Social Care and
Health Research. The award will allow the centre to continue its work in
understanding how genes are involved in a range of common psychiatric
and neurological disorders and help to develop new approaches to
diagnosis and treatment.
www.rc-harwell.ac.uk
medicine.cardiff.ac.uk/cngg
CNGG Director Professor Mike Owen said: “We have known for a long
time that genes play an important role in disorders such as schizophrenia,
bipolar disorder, depression, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder,
Alzheimer’s disease and Parkinson’s disease. Now, using modern genetic
technologies, we have begun to identify some of the specific genes and
brain mechanisms involved.
Hope against cancer
Leicester is to house a prestigious
Cancer Research UK Centre as part
of a national £100m investment
by Cancer Research UK to help
train a new generation of cancer
researchers and get new
treatments and diagnostics to
cancer patients sooner.
The Leicester centre is a partnership between the University of Leicester and Leicester’s Hospitals,
working with the MRC Toxicology Unit and the locally-based charity Hope Against Cancer.
The investment marks the latest phase in the development of the Cancer Research UK Centres
network of excellence – a unique chain of research hubs that have been established across
the country.
Cancer Research UK is providing funding over three years from April 2014 and will provide staff
positions to support the Centre’s infrastructure and a PhD studentship account for training the
next generation of cancer researchers.
To find out more visit mrc.io/cancer-research-uk
20 | MRCNetwork
MRCNetwork | 21
OPINION
To read other examples of research which relied on the use of
patient data go to our website: www.mrc.ac.uk/sharing-data
YOUR
FEEDBACK
Sharing data saves lives
Having the necessary infrastructure and information governance in place
is essential to ensure that patient data are handled in accordance with
current ethical norms and that identifiable data are safeguarded; that is
what is meant by ‘safe data in safe havens’. Recently we’ve invested £90m
to tackle health and bioinformatics challenges for the advancement of
medical research. Here, two MRC researchers explain how medical
records can be handled safely to improve the services provided to patients
and the population as a whole.
Professor Jill Pell is Director of the Institute of
Health and Wellbeing at the University of Glasgow
I am fortunate to have spent my whole career in Scotland where it has
been possible to access high quality data on hospitalised patients for
several decades. I first used patient data for research 30 years ago, as
part of my MD, and have continued to do so since.
Patient data are extremely versatile in their uses. As an NHS public health
consultant, I used patient data to undertake health services research
and observational intervention studies in order to improve health service
design and delivery. For example, linking a disease register with
hospitalisations and death certificates enabled us to study whether the
outcomes of trials undertaken on specific sub-groups of patients were
generalisable to the whole patient population. This allowed us to
make informed decisions about how best to translate research findings
into clinical practice.
As an academic, I have used patient data to perform both
epidemiological studies, to identify modifiable risk factors for diseases,
and natural experiments, to study the impact of new health policies.
An example of the latter includes a portfolio of projects we undertook
to evaluate the impact of smoke-free legislation. We were able to show
improvements in a number of important health outcomes following the
legislation including; heart disease, childhood asthma, preterm delivery
and stroke. The evaluation has been extremely useful in encouraging
other countries to implement similar legislation.
There is now recognition at governmental level that sharing and using
data are essential to improve the services provided to patients and the
population as a whole. Research funders have provided the large sums of
money required to achieve the necessary step changes in infrastructure
and capacity and, importantly, the developments include improvements
in information governance and public engagement.
22 | MRCNetwork
Of particular note is the ongoing development of ‘safe havens’.
Individual level data can be linked and placed within a safe haven
following removal of identifiers. Approved data users, who have been
trained in information governance, can then analyse the data remotely.
The actual data remain within the safe haven throughout and users
can only extract results. Safeguards are in place to prevent
re-identification of individuals, including controlled access to data that
could potentially identify individuals. Such developments will help to
maintain the confidence of data controllers and the general public as
data become more widely used.
Over the last 30 years, I have witnessed the important contributions
that patient records can make to our understanding of health and
provision of healthcare. I look forward eagerly to the new possibilities
that the ongoing developments will afford.
Network is for anyone who has an interest in the work of
the MRC, including scientists, doctors and health
professionals involved in medical research, government
departments and parliamentarians, and university staff and
students. The aim is to provide a quick, easy-to-read
summary of activities across the MRC, from research news
through to funding, grant schemes and policy issues, with
pointers to more in-depth information on websites and in
other publications.
Professor Liam Smeeth is Head of the Department of
Non-Communicable Disease Epidemiology and Professor
of Clinical Epidemiology at the London School of
Hygiene and Tropical Medicine
Information from people’s medical records is not just important for running
a safe effective health service; it’s absolutely central and essential. An
example of when I first used patient data was during the MMR vaccine and
autism scare. We used electronic, confidential and anonymised health records
from general practice to show that the vaccine was safe. This was
complemented by studies done in other countries (Denmark, the USA) based
on medical records showing that the worry about autism was misplaced.
This has since led to restored faith in the vaccine.
Plenty of new vaccines are coming along and what we need to do as they
are introduced in the UK is to see that they are safe and effective, and that
the people who need them are getting them. The only way we can do this
thoroughly is through using people’s medical records.
As a GP I can look in the records of people in my practice, several thousand
people, but that’s not enough. We need to look at millions of records to
reliably measure the effects of drugs and other interventions. These data
are essential for basics such as knowing how many people are having strokes
and in turn whether we are providing the right care for them in hospitals.
This isn’t new. We’ve been using electronic health records for a long time
with great benefits and there haven’t been adverse leaks. In fact I think
they’re much safer and provide more opportunities than paper records for
example, which can go missing.
The risks are there but are small and can be minimised. For example,
MRC-funded research requires approval by a research ethics committee;
the use of de-identified data in an approved research environment with
robust technical and security standards; a full audit trail of data use and
privacy impact assessment of results. Crucially, all of these actions are the
responsibility of named scientific leadership carried out by
accredited researchers.
The benefits are huge. In fact the benefits are not just huge – I think the
use of these records is completely central to a modern, safe, effective
health service.
We are keen to receive feedback on Network and
suggestions for new features from our readers. So if you
have any comments, please complete our
Network survey: survey.mrc.ac.uk/networksurvey or
email: [email protected]
Deadline for news items in summer issue: 30 April.
Deadline for autumn issue: 30 July.
Network is produced by the MRC Corporate Affairs Group.
Editor: Isabel Baker
Designer: Vin Kumar
A limited number of copies are available in print.
Network can also be downloaded as a pdf at:
www.mrc.ac.uk/network
IMAGES
Front cover: © MRC Images
Back cover: © Kevin Glover
Page 3: © GovNet Communications; © MRC Images
Page 4: © Wellcome Images; © MRC Images
Page 5: © Daria Cybulska, Wikimedia UK
Page 6: © Claire Witham
Page 7: © Thinkstock
Page 9: © NCRI
Page 10-11: © MRC Images; Jessica Monk © Kevin Glover
Page 14: © Science Photo Library; © University of Leicester
Page 15: © Science Photo Library; © University of Oxford
Page 16-17: © Douglas Robertson
Page 18-19: © MRC Images
Page 20: © Diamond Light Source; Research Complex at Harwell © Stephen Kill
Page 21: © Science Photo Library; © MRC Images
Page 22: © University of Glasgow
Page 23: © Wellcome Images
Medical Research Council (Swindon office)
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MRCNetwork | 23