An afternoon with Sir Ken and Lady Murray

I often use Biogen as an important early example of a Biotech Business, but it is pretty unusual in some respects; in particular in respect of their strategy at the outset for choosing, harnessing and then translating emerging knowledge in Molecular Biology in the 1970s. I then immediately think of the enormously inspiring afternoon I spent with Ken Murray and his wife Noreen. Ken was one of the scientific founders of Biogen and Noreen was a pioneer in the development of early methods for cloning genes using bacteriophage vectors. (They spent the majority of their careers and lives at the University of Edinburgh: you can find them on Google, ). Noreen died in May 20011 and Ken died a couple of years later: they had both technically retired many years earlier! I was fortunate enough to know them both and spent a memorable afternoon with them both at their home in Edinburgh just before Noreen died. At this time Noreen was unable to speak, but had no problem communicating, as Ken was the perfect host, attending to both our needs while attending to our needs and filling in any gaps in the conversation. We talked about their lives in Science, the people they knew and had known and the circumstances surrounding the early days of Biogen.

Ken left school at the age of 16 to become a lab technician at Boots in Nottingham. From there he studies for his degree part time and finally obtained a PhD in microbiology from the University of Birmingham. After around 10 years at the University of Edinburgh, Ken and the other founders of Biogen met in Geneva in 1978, and included in addition to Ken, Walter Gilbert and Phillip Sharp(who would both later receive Nobel Prizes). The idea was to create a company that fostered the development of a number of ideas that were emerging from the research labs of the founders. Charles Weissmann, the Hungarian born Swiss scientist, probably had the discovery that was forecast by many to bring fortune to Biogen: he had cloned the wonder molecule interferon. However, it was Ken's work on developing the first genetically engineered vaccine against Hepatitis B, that proved their biggest initial success. So much so that on his death last year, Ken's estate amounted to over £12m, the bulk of which was left to the Darwin Trust for the promotion of research, in particular postgraduate scholarships, the remainder being distributed around the scientific communities in the UK.

Ken and Noreen were in many ways traditional scientists who many would say were working on esoteric subjects: the fundamental principles of genes and proteins in bacteria and bacteriophage. However, it was their personal experimental skills, their love and respect for their chosen fields, that led to their influential work both in understanding fundamental aspects of Molecular Biology, but in making the world a better place to live. Both Ken and Noreen had an incredible grasp of the literature and any important discovery was read in detail: their own published work was always a tour de force. Ken carried out the key Hep B experiments under containment level facilities at the MOD, while Noreen was still plating bacteria and phage in a quiet corner of a lab until the very end! Their selfless pursuit of scientific truth led them to considerable wealth, which they then gave back to the organisations that they cherished in order to continue the pursuit of knowledge: a rare example of the powerful combination of Pure and Applied Science and humanity.