A COLLECTION of paintings owned by the scientists who developed the vaccine against hepatitis B is expected to fetch up to £800,000 for the trust they founded for young biology students.

Sir Kenneth Murray, who died last year, and his wife, Lady Noreen, who passed away in 2011, amassed a number of art works, which include examples by John Duncan Fergusson, Anne Redpath and Joan Eardley.

A painting by the French Impressionist artist Pierre-Auguste Renoir is estimated to sell for up to £350,000. The entire collection will go under the hammer at separate sales being held this summer in Bonhams in Edinburgh, London and New York.

Proceeds will go towards the Darwin Trust of Edinburgh, which they set up to support young biologists in their doctoral studies.