Max Perutz Fund

The Max Perutz Fund was set up in June 1980 in honour of Dr Max Perutz and was established to promote and advance education and research in molecular biology and allied biomedical sciences. The Fund is an incorporated charity (Charity Commission No. 1129597, Company Registration No. 6876186). The Director of the LMB is Chairman of the Trustees, and the other Directors/Trustees are currently Dr Martin Dougherty, Dr Harvey McMahon, Dr Chris Tate and Dr Julian Sale.

The Fund now incorporates several other funds available to support work in the LMB. This includes donations in honour of LMB scientists Dr Fred Sanger and Dr Cesar Milstein, and donations for specific purposes. The following general funds are held within the Max Perutz Fund:

Perutz Fund

Max Perutz joined J. D. Bernal’s crystallographic lab at the Cavendish Laboratory, Cambridge, in 1936, as a graduate student from Vienna. From 1947, his research was funded by the MRC when they established a ‘Research Unit for the Study of the Molecular Structure of Biological Systems’ for which Max and his co-worker John Kendrew were founders. Together, they pioneered the technique of protein crystallography, leading to the elucidation of the first protein structures: myoglobin (John) and haemoglobin (Max). They were jointly awarded the 1962 Nobel Prize for Chemistry. In the same year, LMB opened and, as well as being founder and the first Chairman, Max continued his research on protein structures. He retired as Chairman in 1979, and the Max Perutz Fund was established in his honour.

This Fund is used for the annual LMB student prizes awarded to promising graduate students who have completed an outstanding piece of research within four years of starting their PhD studies. It is also used for other approved purposes such as attendance at major overseas scientific conferences by students and young scientists within the LMB.

Milstein Fund

César Milstein was born in Argentina in 1927. After completing Ph.D.s in both Buenos Aires and Cambridge, and a brief spell of research back in Argentina, he joined the LMB in 1963 and spent the rest of his life here. He developed an early interest in immunology, and at the LMB his research concentrated on antibody structure and diversity. In the early 1970′s, with his post-doc Georges Köhler, they developed the technique to produce monoclonal antibodies, for which they were jointly awarded the 1984 Nobel Prize in Physiology and Medicine. This technique has been used for diagnostics and developed further by LMB colleagues for therapeutic applications, leading to the creation of several MRC spin-out companies. César continued his research on how somatic mutation arises in immunoglobulin genes. He died in Cambridge on 24 March 2002.

This Fund is used to support a Studentship or a Fellowship to enable a young scientist from South America to undertake research at the LMB.

Jonathan Karn Donation

Jonathan Karn joined the LMB in 1976, initially as a visitor with Sydney Brenner’s group. He joined the scientific staff and became a Programme Leader, working in the field of retroviruses, in particular the control of gene expression in HIV. He collaborated with the LMB ‘spin-out’ company RiboTargets on drug-design that emerged from his studies on regulatory proteins. In 2002, he left to take up a post at Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland, where he is the Reinberger Professor of Molecular Biology. He continues his research into replication and gene expression of HIV.

This Fund is used to provide support to LMB students and post-doctoral fellows to extend their research or initiate new research projects.

Geoffrey Grigg Traveling Fellowship

Geoffrey Grigg was an Australian visitor to the LMB with Fred Sanger in 1972-1974 and Greg Winter in 1988, and often visited the LMB, especially in the 1990s. He played a key role in the founding and/or financing of Cambridge Antibody Technology and Domantis, two start-up biotechnology companies based on work originating in the LMB. After his death in 2008, the LMB and the Garvan Institute in Sydney set up a traveling Fellowship to honour his memory, raising money from his friends in Cambridge and Sydney. The aim of the Fellowship is to expedite short (one to three month) scientific exchange visits between the two institutions.

Prospective applicants from the LMB should apply to the Director of the LMB by email to director@mrc-lmb.cam.ac.uk at least one month in advance of the proposed trip, and preferably longer. The application should include a brief description (one page) of the proposed project or collaboration, a breakdown of the estimated costs, and notes from their Group Leader and the Garvan host signifying approval. The Director will check that the visit is acceptable to the Director of the Garvan, and then pass the proposal to the Max Perutz Fund for consideration by the Trustees. If the application is successful, the Max Perutz Fund will pay some or all of the estimated travel and accommodation costs from funds earmarked for this purpose. Applicants from the Garvan should apply to the Director of the Garvan Institute.

General Fund

This Fund is used to fund travel grants and for other approved purposes.

Donating to the Max Perutz Fund

Alumni or others interested in making a donation to further the work of the LMB should consider doing so through the Max Perutz Fund. Please e-mail mfpfund@mrc-lmb.cam.ac.uk to find out more about ways in which you could contribute. Advice can also be provided about the opportunities for increasing the value of donations through Gift Aid in the UK, or to benefit from tax deductions under US IRS regulations.

Registered Office:
Max Perutz Fund,
MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology,
Francis Crick Avenue,
Cambridge Biomedical Campus
Cambridge,
CB2 0QH.