Scientific vision

The Francis Crick Institute will be one of the most significant developments in UK biomedical science for a generation: an entirely new institute with a distinctive vision of how medical research should be conducted.

Its goal will be to understand the basic biology underlying human health, finding ways to prevent and drive forward better treatment of the most significant diseases affecting people today.

It has behind it a consortium of six of the UK's most successful scientific and academic institutions.

• The Medical Research Council, the UK's main Government agency for biomedical research.
• Cancer Research UK, the country's leading cancer charity.
• The Wellcome Trust, Europe's largest endowed charitable foundation.
• UCL (University College London), one of the world's leading research universities.
• Imperial College London, consistently rated among the world's best universities.
• King's College London, one of the top 30 universities in the world (2011/12 QS World University Rankings).

The institute will initially build on the complementary skills and research interests of the MRC National Institute for Medical Research (NIMR), the Cancer Research UK London Research Institute (LRI), and the universities.

To achieve its objectives, the Institute will put its faith in researchers who have the best ideas, the ability to think creatively, the inclination to work collaboratively, and the drive to turn promise into reality.

In this way, The Francis Crick Institute will play a key role in creating the foundation of knowledge on which this century's improvements in health will be based.

Download our Strategy: Discovery Without Boundaries for in-depth information. A  summary version is also available.