Monocular microscope by Leitz and home-made lamp, used for examining tissue cultures at the Common Cold Research Unit

The Common Cold Research Unit (CCRU) operated from 1946 to 1989 at the Harvard Hospital, at Harnham Down near Salisbury in Wiltshire. It aimed to research the common cold and reduce the human and economic cost of the illness. This microscope examined tissue cultures in the CCRU laboratory. The Unit initially tried to identify each cold virus, the epidemiology and how colds are transmitted. Trials took place every two weeks throughout the year and involved 30 volunteers being isolated for ten days. Most volunteers received the virus during a trial, with the symptoms of each volunteer recorded daily.

Over 200 viral serotypes can cause the common cold. By 1959, many viruses which caused colds were cultivated and recognised in tissue cultures developed at the Unit. The microscope is shown with test tubes (1990-84/22), which were also used in the tissue culture process.