The Roche Institute of Molecular Biology was created on July 14, 1967 when Jim Burns, then the vice president of research at Hoffman-La Roche, persuaded biochemist Sidney Udenfriend to leave the National Institutes of Health and help him create a basic science institute at the Hoffman-La Roche, Nutley, New Jersey facility. It lasted for 28 years and was associated with a number of well known and regarded scientists.