UK's leading mouse genetics centre faces closure

Plan to halt academic work at Harwell Institute threatens research including on diabetes

Britain's leading centre for mouse genetics is facing closure in a move that critics say will undermine crucial research on serious diseases and threaten the standing of UK science.

The Medical Research Council has told staff at its Harwell Institute in Oxfordshire that an internal strategy board recommended the closure of all academic work at the site, threatening research on diabetes, neurodegenerative disease, child deafness and other conditions.