The MRC National Institute for Medical Research (NIMR) was founded in 1914 as a research centre in London for the newly established Medical Research Council. Premises at Hampstead were acquired but the outbreak of war in 1914 postponed occupation of the building, although senior staff were appointed and began work. The Hampstead premises, at Mount Vernon Hospital, were occupied in 1920, and the institute subsequently moved to its current location at Mill Hill in 1950. Scientists at NIMR have made major and seminal contributions in biomedical science, and include five Nobel Laureates. NIMR became part of the Crick in April 2015.

Sir Alan Sterling Parkes was an influential figure in the field of reproductive biology in the 20th century, with contributions to the field of reproductive endocrinology in Britain in the 1920s and 1930s. Along with Christopher Parkes and Audrey Smith, Parkes worked at the National Institute for Medical Research during the 1950s where they jointly discovered the use of glycerol to protect against damage during the freezing and storage of animal sperm. This led to a worldwide revolution in artificial insemination in cattle, and created a new branch of biological science, known as 'cyrobiology'. He went on to study the influence of pheromones on mammalian reproduction, working with wild animals at the Nuffield Unit of Tropical Animal Ecology in Uganda. After retirement from the academic field, he became a consultant in the conservation and captive breeding of green sea turtles in the Cayman Islands.

Audrey Ursula Smith was a British cryobiologist, who discovered the use of glycerol to protect human red blood cells during freezing. In 1935, she graduated from King's College, London with a first class honours BSc in general science, and in 1936, with a BSc from Bedford College for Women in physiology. Smith was house physician at King's College Hospital, in 1942, and clinical pathologist from 1943 to 1944. She was a pathologist at Epsom public health clinic from 1944 to 1945, and for the Nottingham Emergency Public Health Laboratory Service from 1945 to 1946. From 1946 to 1970, she was a researcher at the National Institute for Medical Research in Mill Hill, London. During her work here with Sir Alan Parkes and Christopher Polge, she discovered the first practical cryoprotectant molecule. In 1969, Smith was a joint winner with Polge and Parkes of the John Scott Award of the city of Philadelphia for their method of low temperature preservation of living cells and tissues. Audrey Smith was awarded the Kamerlingh Onnes medal in 1973. From 1970 to 1981, she was on the staff of the Royal National Orthopaedic Hospital at Stanmore.