The Wellcome Legacy.

A crowded portrait of the origins and growth of the Wellcome Trust, the principal "legacy" of Sir Henry Wellcome (1853-1936), and of its current work in support of clinical and biomedical research in the United Kingdom and overseas. The research featured includes work on early embryological development at the joint Wellcome Trust- Cancer Research Campaign Institute of Cancer and Developmental Biology, Cambridge; the use of non-invasive monitoring to detect perinatal oxygen starvation and possible brain damage in premature babies at University College Hospital, London; and clinical research and fieldwork in the prevention and treatment of severe malaria at Kilifi, Kenya. The film also affords a vivid glimpse of Sir Henry Wellcome's vast collection of historical medical books, manuscripts, artefacts and paintings, and shows work in progress on the refurbishment of the Wellcome Building and the planning of the Wellcome Centre for Medical Science's "Science for Life" exhibition during 1990-91.