Richard Sykes (microbiologist)

Sir Richard Brook Sykes FRS FMedSci HonFREng (born 7 August 1942) is a British microbiologist, the chair of the Royal Institution, the UK Stem Cell Foundation, and the trustees at King Edward VII's Hospital, and chancellor of Brunel University.

Subsequently, he was recruited by the Squibb Institute, in the United States, where he then developed aztreonam, the first clinically effective monobactam, a term he coined in 1981 to describe a new group of monocyclic β-lactams produced by bacteria.

[2] He received his doctorate in 1972 with a thesis on β-lactamases of Pseudomonas aeruginosa, from the University of Bristol, where he worked with Mark Richmond.

[9] In 1977 he left Glaxo and was recruited to the United States by the Squibb Institute for Medical Research, where he worked under George B. Mackaness, the Australian immunologist who played an important part in getting the first ACE inhibitor, captopril, licensed.

[15] The Harvard Business Review noted that at Glaxo, when a group of antibiotics failed in the last stages of clinical trial, Sykes praised the teams that had worked on them and encouraged them to move on.

[23][24] In 1994 he became a trustee of the Natural History Museum, London,[2] and in 1997 he was appointed senior independent director of Rio Tinto plc, a position he held until 2008.

[clarification needed][26] In January 2001, he was appointed rector of Imperial College London and completed his tenure in 2008.

[27][28][29] At Imperial, he was involved in several controversial debates including on issues such as increasing tuition fees, which he favoured.

[30] He criticised secondary schools for the quality of the science taught there, and opposed teaching grants being awarded on a per capita basis.

[2] From 2007 to 2011 he was senior independent director and non-executive deputy chairman of Eurasian Natural Resources Corporation.

[2][49] He holds honorary degrees from several universities including Birmingham, Brunel, Cranfield, Edinburgh, Hertfordshire, Huddersfield, Hull, Leeds, Leicester, Madrid, Newcastle, Nottingham, Sheffield Hallam, Sheffield, Strathclyde, Surrey, Warwick and Westminster.

[50] In 2009 he received the British Society for Antimicrobial Chemotherapy's Garrod Medal and delivered its accompanying lecture.