Cymrodoriaeth er Anrhydedd i ficrobiolegydd o fri rhyngwladol

Y Gwir Anrhydeddus Elfyn Llwyd, Ddirprwy Ganghellor Prifysgol Aberystwyth, yn cyflwyno Athro Syr Stewart Cole yn Gymrawd Anrhydedd

Mae Prifysgol Aberystwyth wedi cyflwyno Cymrodoriaeth er Anrhydedd i’r Athro Syr Stewart Cole KCMG FRS, microbiolegydd o fri rhyngwladol sy'n gweithio ym maes iechyd byd-eang, yn rhan o ddathliadau graddio blynyddol y brifysgol.

Mae'r Athro Cole wedi gwneud cyfraniadau eithriadol ym meysydd genomeg HIV a HPV, ac mewn ymchwil i ymwrthedd gwrthficrobaidd.  Serch hynny, ei waith mwyaf adnabyddus yw ei waith arloesol ar bathogenedd, esblygiad a genomeg y mycobacteria sy'n gyfrifol am y diciáu (TB) a’r gwahanglwyf.

Roedd ei dîm yn defnyddio gwybodaeth am enomau i gyflymu gwaith i ddarganfod a datblygu cyffuriau a brechlynnau at y diciáu. 

Ar hyn o bryd mae cyffuriau posib, yn deillio o'i waith, yn destun treialon clinigol.

Trwy gydol ei yrfa mae wedi ymdrechu i droi darganfyddiadau o'i waith ymchwil i fod yn driniaethau a fydd o fudd i iechyd pobl.

Mae e’n Gadeirydd Gweithredol Sefydliad Ineos Rhydychen ar gyfer ymchwil gwrthficrobaidd, ac yn gyn-lywydd ar yr Institut Pasteur, Paris, a chyn hynny bu’n arwain y Sefydliad Iechyd Byd-eang yn Sefydliad Technoleg Ffederal y Swistir yn Lausanne. 

Cafodd ei benodi’n Farchoglywydd Urdd Sant Mihangel a Sant Siôr (KCMG) yn Rhestr Anrhydeddau’r Flwyddyn Newydd 2022 am wasanaethau i wyddoniaeth.

Cyflwynwyd yr Athro Syr Stewart Cole yn Gymrawd er Anrhydedd gan yr Athro Glyn Hewinson CBE, cadair ymchwil Sêr Cymru yn y Ganolfan Rhagoriaeth ar gyfer Twbercwlosis Buchol yng Nghymru ym Mhrifysgol Aberystwyth, ddydd Mawrth 16 Gorffennaf 2024.

Mae’r cyflwyniad llawn ar gael isod, yn yr iaith y’i traddodwyd.

Yr Athro Syr Stewart Cole gyda'r Athro Jon Timmis, Is-Ganghellor Prifysgol Aberystwyth

Cyflwyno’r Athro Syr Stewart Colegan yr Athro Glyn Hewinson:

Dirprwy Ganghellor, Is-Ganghellor, graddedigion a chyfeillion.  Pleser o’r mwyaf yw cyflwyno Stewart Cole yn gymrawd Prifysgol Aberystwyth.

Pro-Chancellor, Vice-Chancellor, graduates and supporters.  It is an honour and a privilege to present Stewart Cole as a Fellow of Aberystwyth University.

Professor Sir Stewart Cole is an internationally renowned microbiologist working in global health. 

He grew up in Wales, where he was educated at Milford Haven Grammar School and then at Ardwyn Grammar School, Aberystwyth.

Following a life-threatening bout of paratyphoid he developed an interest in bacteria, viruses and infectious diseases, which led to his reading microbiology at the University of Wales, in Cardiff followed by research for his PhD at the University of Sheffield.

Subsequently, he was a postdoctoral fellow at the University of Umeå in Sweden and a research assistant at the Max-Planck-Institut for Biology, Tübingen in Germany before joining the Institut Pasteur in Paris in 1983 where he worked for over twenty years. 

From 2000-2005 he was part of the senior management team of the Institut Pasteur and occupied the posts of executive Vice-President for science and acting President, before leaving for Switzerland where he joined the Swiss Federal Institute for Technology in Lausanne in 2007. There he established the laboratory of Microbial Pathogenesis and led its Global Health Institute. 

In 2017 Sir Stewart returned to Paris and was appointed as the 16th Director General of the Institut Pasteur, thus becoming the first non-French appointee 130 years after its foundation, and he served in this position from January 2018 to December 2023. Under his leadership, the institute was a major player in the global response to SARS-CoV-2 and COVID-19.  

In 2024 he joined the Ineos Oxford Institute on antimicrobial research as Executive Chair and became President of the Pasteur Foundation - UK.

His research accomplishments in microbiology have been widely acclaimed and are of direct relevance to global health and disease-control in both the developing world and the industrialised nations. Over four decades his team has investigated a range of topics.  He was an important player in the team that sequenced the HIV-1 genome and later the genomes of a number of oncogenic papillomaviruses thereby facilitating development of molecular diagnostic tests for AIDS and cervical cancer. He has also investigated bacterial electron transport systems, antibiotic resistance mechanisms and the molecular microbiology of toxigenic clostridia, the cause of gas gangrene. However, Sir Stewart is best known for his pioneering work on the genomics, evolution and virulence of pathogenic mycobacteria, especially those causing the human diseases tuberculosis (TB), leprosy and Buruli ulcer.

Throughout his career Sir Stewart has strived to translate findings from his discovery research into interventions that benefit human health.  His team harnessed genome-derived information to accelerate TB drug and vaccine discovery and development.  Candidate drugs that arose from his work are currently in clinical trials. 

His many achievements in research and science management are widely acknowledged and have led to the award of many prestigious prizes and distinctions.  He was elected Fellow of the Royal Society in 2007 and was appointed Knight Commander of the Order of St Michael and St George (KCMG) in the 2022 New Year Honours for services to science. Most recently he received the prestigious rank of Officier de la Légion d’honneur in France’s New Year honours.

Dirprwy Ganghellor, mae’n bleser gen i gyflwyno Stewart Cole i chi yn Gymrawd. 

Pro-Chancellor, it is my absolute pleasure to present Stewart Cole to you as a Fellow of Aberystwyth University.

Anrhydeddau Prifysgol Aberystwyth 2024

Bob blwyddyn, mae Prifysgol Aberystwyth yn dyfarnu Graddau er Anrhydedd i nifer fach o unigolion nodedig er mwyn cydnabod eu cyflawniad a’u cyfraniad rhagorol.

Dyma Gymrodyr er Anrhydedd 2024:

• Yr Athro Syr Stewart Cole KCMG FRS, microbiolegydd o fri rhyngwladol sy'n gweithio ym maes iechyd byd-eang
• Jess Fishlock MBE, pêl-droedwraig a hyfforddwraig broffesiynol, a enillodd 150 o gapiau rhyngwladol dros Gymru
• Clare Hieatt, cyd-sylfaenydd yr ŵyl syniadau fyd-enwog The Do Lectures a chwmni Hiut Denim Co
• David Hieatt, cyd-sylfaenydd cwmni jîns Hiut Denim Co o Aberteifi a The Do Lectures
• Yr Athro Uzo Iwobi CBE FLSW FRSA, Sylfaenydd a Phrif Weithredwr Cyngor Hil Cymru
• Dr Anna Persaud, Prif Swyddog Gweithredol a Sylfaenydd y brand moethus gofal croen a lles, This Works
• Manon Steffan Ros, awdur arobryn, colofnydd a sgript-wraig

Rhannu