Robin Ewart's legacy
Alumnus Robin Ewart’s legacy gift has made a lasting impact on cancer and Covid-19 research in the department of Biochemistry.
Professor John Spencer, Director of the Drug Discovery Centre at Sussex
Alumnus Robin Ewart, (Biochemistry, 1971), chose to remember the School of Life Sciences by leaving a generous bequest in his will. Robin worked as a medically qualified research student in the Diabetes Group of Keith Taylor in the School of Life Sciences during the late 60s and early 70s, where his research focused on the secretion of pituitary growth hormone. It was this research combined with his experience of Sussex that led to Robin leaving a legacy gift. Robin’s vision was to support a broad range of research projects in the field of Biochemistry at Sussex.
Professor John Spencer, Director of the Drug Discovery Centre at Sussex, acknowledged the profound impact of Robin’s bequest, commenting:
“Thanks to Robin’s hugely generous donation in his will, my lab was able to buy some expensive key chemicals, which allowed us to speed up our research into compounds that could be used to identify cancer cells and could help to diagnose the disease. These chemicals also saved us several months in synthesis efforts, especially in our efforts to try to combat Covid 19.”
Amongst other projects to benefit were research into finding ways to stop disease-causing bacterial infections, research into Acute Myeloid Leukaemia, the study of a ‘genetic scissor’ system used by bacteria to destroy invading viruses, work into the diagnosis of the aggressive brain tumour Glioblastoma multiforme, and finding new ways to target cancers caused by the cancer-associated Epstein-Barr virus.
In our 60th Anniversary year, please consider remembering Sussex in your will. By doing so, you too can contribute to future scientific breakthroughs as well as ensuring that our students thrive.
Our goal is to discover novel therapeutics for diseases with high unmet medical need. We were extremely grateful to have received this incredible bequest from alumnus Robin Ewart.” professor john spencer
Director of the Drug Discovery Centre
Contact us
If you would like to hear more about giving to Sussex or would like to discuss your donation, please email us at alumni@sussex.ac.uk.
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