The day the Queen received insight into cutting-edge science at the MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology in Cambridge
The death of the Queen brought back fond memories of her visit on May 23, 2013, to the MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology in Cambridge.
Her Majesty, accompanied by the Duke of Edinburgh, officially opened the £212million building on Cambridge Biomedical Campus, home to around 600 scientists, PhD students and support staff.
The opening took place during the Medical Research Council’s centenary year.
The Queen and Prince Philip, having arrived on a guided bus, were greeted by schoolchildren before entering the impressive central atrium of the LMB – often referred to as Cambridge’s Nobel Prize factory for its plethora
of awards.
At the time, it had nine, as the Queen learned while browsing a display of the items that had helped researchers earn them.
A presentation on how the LMB makes the most of its discoveries, through patents, licensing and business start-ups, followed, while the Queen spoke to LMB group leader Chris Tate about new drug delivery systems.
The Duke of Edinburgh was shown a timeline of the lab’s successes, before meeting immunologists from the LMB and University of Cambridge.
Menna Clatworthy recalled: “His Royal Highness was particularly interested in the body’s defence against infection, and why defence systems go wrong.”
A tour of the new lab areas followed, and the Queen was shown work in key areas of medical research, with presentations on TRIM 21 and intracellular immunity – how viruses infect cells and how cells react to defend themselves – and on chromosome abnormality during meiosis, the leading genetic cause of miscarriage and congenital birth defects.
Melina Schuh, a group leader, said: “I was very impressed by the Queen’s interest in the technology we use to study the development of eggs and she spent some considerable time looking down the microscope.”
Prince Philip learned about research into neurodegenerative diseases, including Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s diseases, and the development of cryo-EM to study the 3D structures of molecules.
Back in the atrium, they met LMB students and postdocs, and scientific and non-scientific support staff.
There was a short speech by then-director Sir Hugh Pelham before the Queen formally opened the building by unveiling a commemorative plaque.
After lunch, the Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh signed the visitors book and two young children of one of the LMB’s group leaders presented the Queen with flowers before she headed off to open the new Rosie Hospital.
At the time, Sir Hugh said: “This event is a tribute to all those who have worked so hard to make the vision of this new building become a reality.”
The visit came more than half a century after the Queen had officially opened the LMB’s previous building, in 1962.
