UK Research and Innovation is answerable to, although politically independent from, the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy.

The MRC focuses on high-impact research and has provided the financial support and scientific expertise behind a number of medical breakthroughs, including the development of penicillin and the discovery of the structure of DNA.

[2][3] The MRC-NIHR National Phenome Centre is based at Imperial College London and is a combination of inherited equipment from the anti-doping facilities used to test samples during the 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games[2][3] and additional items from the Centre's technology partners Bruker and Waters Corporation.

The Centre, led by Imperial College London and King's College London, is funded with two five-year grants of £5 million from the Medical Research Council and the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR)[2][3] and was officially opened in June 2013.

[23] The following is a list of the MRC's institutes, centres and units as of June 2024:[update][23] Bristol Cambridge Dundee Edinburgh Exeter Glasgow Harwell London Oxford Southampton Multiple sites across UK MRC facilities and resources include, as of June 2024:[update][24] In the UK: International collaborations: