Abbreviation MBU Type Research institute | Formation 1927 Purpose Mitochondrial research | |
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Headquarters The Wellcome Trust/MRC building Location Hills Road, Cambridge CB2 0XY | ||
The MRC Mitochondrial Biology Unit (formerly the MRC Dunn Human Nutrition Unit) is a department of the School of Clinical Medicine at the University of Cambridge, funded through a strategic partnership between the Medical Research Council and the University. It is located at the Addenbrooke’s Hospital / Cambridge Biomedical Campus site in Cambridge, England. The unit is concerned with the study of the mitochondrion, as this organelle has a varied and critical role in many aspects of eukaryotic metabolism and is implicated in a large number of metabolic, degenerative, and age-related human diseases.
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History
The Unit was founded in 1927 using a donation from Sir William Dunn, who left £1 million to charity on his death in 1912. Part of this money was used to fund what was then called the Dunn Nutritional Laboratory, with its research supported by the Medical Research Council (MRC). The Unit was renamed in 2009 to the Mitochondrial Biology Unit under the directorship of Professor Sir John Walker to reflect its expertise in mitochondrial research. In March 2017 the Unit was transferred from the MRC to the University of Cambridge. The current director of the Unit is Professor Massimo Zeviani.
The Unit has three major scientific aims:
- To understand the fundamental processes taking place in mitochondria
- To understand the involvement of these processes in human diseases
- To exploit knowledge of these fundamental processes for the development of new therapies to treat human diseases
Research Groups
The MBU is organised into eleven independent research groups and includes 30-40 graduate students who are members of the University of Cambridge:
Directors
Professor Massimo Zeviani (2013 - )
Professor Sir John Walker (1998 - 2013)