Location via proxy:   [ UP ]  
[Report a bug]   [Manage cookies]                
Skip to main content

Thank you for visiting nature.com. You are using a browser version with limited support for CSS. To obtain the best experience, we recommend you use a more up to date browser (or turn off compatibility mode in Internet Explorer). In the meantime, to ensure continued support, we are displaying the site without styles and JavaScript.

  • COMMENT

The strategy behind one of the most successful labs in the world

One UK institute has produced a dozen Nobel laureates and biomedical breakthroughs across the board. How does Cambridge’s Laboratory of Molecular Biology do it? Our study found out.
  1. Luka Gebel

    1. Luka Gebel is a PhD candidate at King’s College London and incoming assistant professor of strategy and entrepreneurship at the Global Business School for Health, University College London.

    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed  Google Scholar

  2. Chander Velu

    1. Chander Velu is professor of innovation and economics at the Institute for Manufacturing, Department of Engineering, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK.

    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed  Google Scholar

  3. Antonio Vidal-Puig

    1. Antonio Vidal-Puig is professor of molecular nutrition and metabolism at the Institute of Metabolic Science, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK.

    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed  Google Scholar

John Kendrew with forest of model colour rods from the 1960s.

Biochemist John Kendrew working on a structural model of a protein at the Laboratory of Molecular Biology in Cambridge, UK, in the 1960s. Credit: MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology

The Medical Research Council’s Laboratory of Molecular Biology (LMB) in Cambridge, UK, is a world leader in basic biology research. The lab’s list of breakthroughs is enviable, from the structure of DNA and proteins to genetic sequencing. Since its origins in the late 1940s, the institute — currently with around 700 staff members — has produced a dozen Nobel prizewinners, including DNA decipherers James Watson, Francis Crick and Fred Sanger. Four LMB scientists received their awards in the past 15 years: Venkatraman Ramakrishnan for determining the structure of ribosomes, Michael Levitt for computer models of chemical reactions, Richard Henderson for cryo-electron microscopy (cryo-EM) and Gregory Winter for work on the evolution of antibodies (see Figure S1 in Supplementary information; SI). Between 2015 and 2019, more than one-third (36%) of the LMB’s output was in the top 10% of the world’s most-cited papers1.

Access options

Rent or buy this article

Prices vary by article type

from$1.95

to$39.95

Learn more

Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout

Nature 630, 813-816 (2024)

doi: https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-024-02085-2

References

  1. MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology. Quinquennial Review 2021 (MRC LMB, 2021).

    Google Scholar 

  2. Nightingale, P. Res. Policy 27, 689–709 (1998).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  3. Tansey, E. M. & Catterall, P. P. Contemporary Record 9, 409–444 (1995).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  4. Mintzberg, H. & Waters, J. A. Strat. Mgmt J. 6, 257–272 (1985).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  5. Markose, S. M. Econ. J. 115, F159–F192 (2005).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  6. Velu, C. Business Model Innovation: A Blueprint for Strategic Change (Cambridge Univ. Press, 2024).

    Google Scholar 

  7. Park, M., Leahey, E. & Funk, R. J. Nature 613, 138–144 (2023).

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  8. Kupferschmidt, K. Science 370, 392 (2020).

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  9. Spector, J. M., Harrison, R. S. & Fishman, M. C. Sci. Transl. Med. 10, eaaq1787 (2018).

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  10. Sfeir, A. et al. Cell 185, 755–758 (2022).

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  11. Perutz, M. F., Kendrew, J. C. & Watson, H. C. J. Mol. Biol. 13, 669–678 (1965).

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Supplementary Information

  1. Supplementary figures, methodology, quotes and acknowledgements

Competing Interests

The authors declare no competing interests.

Subjects

Latest on:

Nature Careers

Jobs

  • Tenure-track Assistant Professor

    Position Description Brain Immunology and Glia (BIG) Center at the Washington University School of Medicine invites applications for a tenure-track...

    Saint Louis, Missouri

    Washington University School of Medicine - St. Louis

  • Post Doctoral Associate Radiation Oncology

    The Department of Radiation Oncology at the University of Miami, Miller School of Medicine, has an exciting opportunity for a Postdoctoral Associate.

    Miami, Florida

    University of Miami/UHealth System

  • Editor (Applied and Industrial Microbiology)

    We’re seeking a biologist who has a critical eye, a deep understanding of their subject and interests beyond, and who can think on their feet.

    London, Madrid or Pune (hybrid working)

    Springer Nature Ltd

  • Research assistant (praedoc) (m/f/d)

    Fachbereich Physik - Institut für Theoretische Physik AG Netz Research assistant (praedoc) (m/f/d) full-time job limited to 3 years (end of project...

    14195, Berlin (DE)

    Freie Universität Berlin

  • Faculty Positions in Bioscience and Biomedical Engineering (BSBE) Thrust, Systems Hub, HKUST (GZ)

    Tenure-track and tenured faculty positions at all ranks (Assistant Professor/Associate Professor/Professor)

    Guangzhou, Guangdong, China

    The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (Guangzhou)

Nature Briefing

Sign up for the Nature Briefing newsletter — what matters in science, free to your inbox daily.

Get the most important science stories of the day, free in your inbox. Sign up for Nature Briefing

Search

Advanced search

Quick links