This trailer tries to encapsulate a film I've made about the MRC National Institute for Medical Research (NIMR). It is the story of a remarkable place from its origins as a few pioneer scientists housed in a former Hampstead hospital, to a globally admired scientific behemoth, home to over 700 staff in Mill Hill, London.
Blending interviews and archive, the film brings the Institute alive: the place, the people and the science - when health and safety was non-existent and scientists smoked in the lab; to the requirements of wartime and the changing needs of a Nation. From the Antarctic to antibiotics; flamethrowers to ‘flu; hygiene to Hox genes; Macrocyclon to mesoderm; T-cells to Toxoplasma gondii, NIMR did it all.
And it was not all science: NIMR's culture was greatly admired. It was an Institute built on the success of teamwork, friendship and fun as much as anything else - some would say crucially so.
In 2015, aged almost 101, NIMR closed. It left an astonishing and indelible global scientific legacy: lauded by many and envied by many too. This film is a celebration of NIMR told honestly, affectionately, and with considerable humour by those who knew it.
If you are associated with NIMR in anyway and wish to purchase the whole two-hour film, further information can be obtained from: nimr100film@hotmail.com
