The Francis Crick Institute, scheduled to open in 2015, is being established at an auspicious time for medical research.

New discoveries and technological advances have opened up countless opportunities to uncover fundamental biological mechanisms in health and disease. Research programmes increasingly need to apply ever more diverse techniques, to develop new approaches and to be more interdisciplinary.

Formerly known as the UK Centre for Medical Research and Innovation (UKCMRI), the project was launched in 2007. It is a unique and unprecedented partnership between six of the world's leading biomedical research organisations — the Medical Research Council, Cancer Research UK, the Wellcome Trust, UCL (University College London), Imperial College London and King’s College London.

The Institute aims to provide an answer to fast-moving changes in the medical sciences by facilitating collaboration between disciplines and accelerating the translation of scientific research from the laboratory to hospitals and pharmacies.

In the summer of 2011, with a pioneering scientific vision in place and the foundations of a state-of-the-art building about to be laid, the project was given the fitting title of The Francis Crick Institute.

Aerial view of the proposed building and the surrounding area.
© Cityscape

The Francis Crick Institute was developed in response to the Cooksey Report, an independent review of arrangements for funding health research in the UK. The review, commissioned in 2006 by the UK Government and carried out by Sir David Cooksey, set out a vision for enhancing the effectiveness of medical research in the UK.