Sir William Dunn Institute of Biochemistry - Hopkins's School of Biochemistry

Hopkins's School of Biochemistry

Hopkins's school, housed in the Dunn Institute, was both productive and influential. Between World War I and World War II, 40% of the papers in the Biochemical Journal were authored by Hopkins and other Cambridge biochemists. Hopkins's program of "general biochemistry" was unique in having a stable institutional base (unlike in Germany, where there were only a scattered handful of biochemistry professorships) but not being dependent on a medical school (unlike the biochemistry and physiological chemistry departments in the United States).

The Dunn Institute under Hopkins had another unusual feature for the time: Hopkins did not discriminate against hiring Jewish scientists, unlike the large majority of American, British and German universities and medical schools. This may have helped Hopkins assemble such a strong group of researchers, since talented Jewish biochemists had few other options.