In 1984 a highly significant discovery was made by Sir Alec Jeffreys, one of the first Lister Fellows, when he discovered that no two people, (other than identical twins) had the same DNA fingerprint.
The development and significance of this finding made medical history and Sir Alec is recognised as the inventor of genetic fingerprinting, and the father of DNA Profiling.
Sir Alec’s DNA testing method was patented and developed with ICI, both at their Cellmark laboratories at Abingdon and an ICI unit in Maryland, USA. A share of the significant royalties flowed to the Lister Institute, and in 1990 we were honoured to receive, jointly with ICI, the Queens award for Technological Achievement.
When our own research facilities closed we did not cease to make major contributions to biomedical research. Instead that work continues in our support of leading experts through competitive research prizes.
You can also find out more about our research work in our 125th anniversary publication and in The Lister Institute of Preventive Medicine: a concise history, by Leslie Collier.
Copies available by clicking the button below, if you have any issues please contact the Secretary via secretary@lister-institute.org.uk or use the contact form here