Mammalian Genetics Unit

The Mammalian Genetics Unit was a genetics and genomics research institute in Oxfordshire.

Mammalian Genetics Unit

Abbreviation	MGU
Formation	1995
Type	Research institute
Legal status	Government agency
Purpose	Genetics research in the UK
Location	Oxfordshire, OX11 0RD
Coordinates	51°35′N 1°19′W
Region served	UK
Parent organization	Medical Research Council
Staff	c. 400 genetics scientists
Website	MGU

History

Earlier research on the same site at the Radiobiology Research Unit, which opened in 1954, in the 1950s was into cytogenetics, where Charles Edmund Ford and John Hamerton confirmed on 12 January 1956 the size of the human genome. In the early 1970s this unit led research into mutagenic effects of radiation on the human chromosome. In the mid-1980s, important early work was done in genomic imprinting.

From 2007, the site no longer carried out work into the effects of radiation on genes (radiobiology).

From April 2022, the site closed as the Mammalian Genetics Unit and was merged with the neighboring Mary Lyon Centre.

MGU

The MGU was largely derived from the earlier Radiobiology Unit (RBU). In 2010, work at the unit discovered that overexpression of the FTO gene led to obesity.

Structure

The unit was in Oxfordshire.^[1]

Function

The unit carried out work into genetics and genome engineering.

See also

• List of geneticists
• Environmental Mutagenesis and Genomics Society