The Francis Crick Institute (formerly the UK Centre for Medical Research and Innovation) is a biomedical research centre in London, which was established in 2010 and opened in 2016. The institute is a partnership between Cancer Research UK, Imperial College London, King's College London (KCL), the Medical Research Council, University College London (UCL) and the Wellcome Trust. The institute has 1,500 staff, including 1,250 scientists, and an annual budget of over £100 million, making it the biggest single biomedical laboratory in Europe. The institute is named after the molecular biologist, biophysicist, and neuroscientist Francis Crick, co-discoverer of the structure of DNA, who shared the 1962 Nobel Prize for Physiology and Medicine with James Watson and Maurice Wilkins. Unofficially, the Crick has been called Sir Paul's Cathedral, a reference to Sir Paul Nurse and St Paul's Cathedral in London. History Background In 2003, the Medical Research Council decided that its National Institute for Medical Research (NIMR) would need to relocate from Mill Hill. A Task Force, one of whose external members was Sir Paul Nurse, was established to consider options. Sites eventually rejected included Addenbrooke's and the National Temperance Hospital. On 11 February 2005, it was announced that NIMR would relocate to University College London, but this was dependent on funding from the government's Large Facilities Capital Fund and did not proceed. In December 2006, the Cooksey Review, commissioned by the Chancellor Gordon Brown in March, was published. It assessed the strategic priorities of UK health research, highlighting in particular the importance of translating basic research into health and economic benefits. Founding: initially named as UKCMRI The creation of the UK Centre for Medical Research and Innovation (UKCMRI) was announced by the then British Prime Minister, Gordon Brown, on 5 December 2007. On 13 June 2008, the 3.5 acre eventual site on Brill Place was bought for UKCMRI for £85m, of which £46.75m was provided by MRC. David Cooksey was chair of the Francis Crick Institute from 2009 to August 2017. On 15 July 2010 it was announced that Nobel laureate Paul Nurse would be the first director and chief executive of the UKCMRI. He took up his post on 1 January 2011. On 20 October 2010, the Chancellor of the Exchequer, George Osborne, confirmed that the British Government would be contributing £220 million over four years towards the capital cost of the centre. Finally, on 11 November 2010, Cancer Research