The MRC Blood Group Unit, originally the Blood Group Research Unit, was a research unit of the British Medical Research Council from 1946 to 1995. Initially established in the

Lister Institute The Lister Institute of Preventive Medicine, informally known as the Lister Institute, was established as a research institute (the British Institute of Preventive Medicine) in 1891, with bacteriologist Marc Armand Ruffer as its first director, us ...

, it transferred to the

Galton Laboratory The Galton Laboratory was a laboratory for research into eugenics and then into human genetics based at University College London in London, England. It was originally established in 1904, and became part of UCL's biology department in 1996. The a ...

(the

Genetics Genetics is the study of genes, genetic variation, and heredity in organisms.Hartl D, Jones E (2005) It is an important branch in biology because heredity is vital to organisms' evolution. Gregor Mendel, a Moravian Augustinian friar wor ...

department) of

University College, London , mottoeng = Let all come who by merit deserve the most reward , established = , type = Public research university , endowment = £143 million (2020) , budget = � ...

in 1975, the original home of its predecessor. The unit mainly used

serological Serology is the scientific study of serum and other body fluids. In practice, the term usually refers to the diagnostic identification of antibodies in the serum. Such antibodies are typically formed in response to an infection (against a given mi ...

techniques to discover

blood group A blood type (also known as a blood group) is a classification of blood, based on the presence and absence of antibodies and inherited antigenic substances on the surface of red blood cells (RBCs). These antigens may be proteins, carbohydrates ...

antigens. Only in the last 15 years of its existence were

monoclonal antibodies A monoclonal antibody (mAb, more rarely called moAb) is an antibody produced from a cell Lineage made by cloning a unique white blood cell. All subsequent antibodies derived this way trace back to a unique parent cell. Monoclonal antibodies ca ...

and molecular approaches adopted. Blood groups were used to study many aspects of human genetics: including those related to

blood transfusion Blood transfusion is the process of transferring blood products into a person's circulation intravenously. Transfusions are used for various medical conditions to replace lost components of the blood. Early transfusions used whole blood, but mo ...

linkage analysis Genetic linkage is the tendency of DNA sequences that are close together on a chromosome to be inherited together during the meiosis phase of sexual reproduction. Two genetic markers that are physically near to each other are unlikely to be separ ...

mosaicism Mosaicism or genetic mosaicism is a condition in multicellular organisms in which a single organism possesses more than one genetic line as the result of genetic mutation. This means that various genetic lines resulted from a single fertilized e ...

and chimaerism.

Directors

R.R. Race Robert Russell Race Commander of the Order of the British Empire, CBE Fellow of the Royal Society, FRS Fellow of the Royal College of Physicians, FRCP Fellow of the Royal College of Pathologists, FRCPath Member of the Royal College of Surgeon ...

FRS, 1946–1973 *

Ruth Sanger Ruth Ann Sanger (6 June 1918 – 4 June 2001) was an Australian immunogeneticist, haematologist and serologist. She was known for her work on human red cell antigens and for the genetic mapping of the human X chromosome. She was Director of ...

FRS, 1973–1983 * Dr Patricia Tippett, 1983–1995

Scientific achievements

These are listed roughly in chronological order of the start of the research. Research on most topics was on-going with significant publications spanning several decades: for instance Xg was discovered in the early 1960s,Mann JJ, Cahan A, Gelb AG, et al. A sex-linked blood group. Lancet. 1962;i:8. but the unit contributed to the identification of the underlying gene, PBDX, in 1994. * Elucidating the genetics of the Rhesus blood group. Director R.R. Race with

R.A. Fisher Sir Ronald Aylmer Fisher (17 February 1890 – 29 July 1962) was a British polymath who was active as a mathematician, statistician, biologist, geneticist, and academic. For his work in statistics, he has been described as "a genius who a ...

had proposed the most widely accepted genetic nomenclature for the Rhesus system. Much of the early work of the unit was concerned with identifying genetic variants of this system which became possible after the initial discovery by

Karl Landsteiner Karl Landsteiner (; 14 June 1868 – 26 June 1943) was an Austrian-born American biologist, physician, and immunologist. He distinguished the main blood groups in 1900, having developed the modern system of classification of blood groups from ...

and the development of the

Coombs test A Coombs test, also known as antiglobulin test (AGT), is either of two blood tests used in immunohematology. They are the direct and indirect Coombs tests. The direct Coombs test detects antibodies that are stuck to the surface of the red blood ce ...

. * ''Human Blood Groups in Man''. A technical reference work written by the unit's first two directors. It was first published in 1950; its final, and 6th, edition appearing in 1975. For much of this period this was a standard reference work for Clinical Haematologists and

Blood Transfusion Blood transfusion is the process of transferring blood products into a person's circulation intravenously. Transfusions are used for various medical conditions to replace lost components of the blood. Early transfusions used whole blood, but mo ...

centres. * Refinement of the genetics of the

MNS antigen system The MNS antigen system is a human blood group system based upon two genes ( glycophorin A and glycophorin B) on chromosome 4. There are currently 50 antigens in the system, but the five most important are called M, N, S, s, and U. The system ca ...

. *

Xg antigen system The XG antigen is a red blood cell surface antigen discovered in 1962. by researchers at the MRC Blood Group Unit.Mann, J. D., Cahan, A., Gelb, A. G., Fisher, N., Hamper, J., Tippett, P., Sanger, R., Race, R. R A sex-linked blood group. Lancet. 1 ...

. This was the first X-linked blood group to be discovered in 1962, and led to extensive work over the following decades, usually with collaborators, to map genes on the human

X chromosome The X chromosome is one of the two sex-determining chromosomes (allosomes) in many organisms, including mammals (the other is the Y chromosome), and is found in both males and females. It is a part of the XY sex-determination system and XO sex-d ...

. *

WHO Who or WHO may refer to: * Who (pronoun), an interrogative or relative pronoun * Who?, one of the Five Ws in journalism * World Health Organization Arts and entertainment Fictional characters * Who, a creature in the Dr. Seuss book ''Horton Hear ...

Collaborative Centre for Human Blood Groups.

References

External links

Archives
at the

Wellcome Foundation The Wellcome Trust is a charitable foundation focused on health research based in London, in the United Kingdom. It was established in 1936 with legacies from the pharmaceutical magnate Henry Wellcome (founder of one of the predecessors of Glax ...

. Some of these have been digitised and are available on line as part of th
Codebreakers
digital archive of pioneers of genetics at the

Wellcome Institute The Wellcome Institute for the History of Medicine (1968–1999) was a London centre for the study and teaching of medical history. It consisted of the Wellcome Library and an Academic Unit. The former was and is a world-class library collection ...

* Clarke, Cyril (1985). ''Biographical Memoirs of Fellows of the Royal Society'' 31, 454–492; Robert Race. doi:10.1098/rsbm.1985.0016 1748-8494 * Hughes-Jones, Nevin and Tippett, Patricia (2003). ''Biographical Memoirs of Fellows of the Royal Society'' 49, 461–473. Ruth Ann Sanger. doi:10.1098/rsbm.2003.0027
Article
on the Medical Research Council website. * Povey, S. (2008)
Transcript
of oral interview with Prof. Sue Povey, p. 19
Genetic and Medicine Historical Network
Cardiff. * Thomson, A. L. (1975). ''Half a century of medical research. Vol. II : The programme of the Medical Research Council (UK)''. pp. xii + 402 pp. Medical Research Council, London. * Tippett, P.A. (1996). ''British Blood Transfusion Service Newsletter'' 40, History of the MRC Blood Group Unit. {{authority control Genetics in the United Kingdom Medical Research Council (United Kingdom) Medical research institutes in the United Kingdom Former research units of the Medical Research Council (United Kingdom)