Knighthood for leading geneticist

Professor Burn said the knighthood was an accolade for the North East

A Newcastle University geneticist has received a knighthood in the New Year Honours list.

Professor John Burn, head of the Institute of Human Genetics, has been honoured for services to medicine.

He helped set up Newcastle's International Centre for Life where researchers claimed in July to have grown human sperm from stem cells.

Others rewarded across Tyneside and Northumberland include a head teacher and a former prison governor.

Researchers at the Institute of Human Genetics, which is based at the International Centre for Life, created the first part-human, part-animal hybrid embryos in 2008.

It's not just politicians and rear admirals and footballers who get these things. It's nice to bring one home

Professor John Burn

Professor Burn said: "I've worked with a lot of very impressive people and I tend to get put out front and get a lot of credit for what they've done.

"But we've built the Centre for Life and we've got a big research institute where we've done lots of good stuff."

He added: "If anything it's an accolade for all of us, for the North East and for the region. It's not just politicians and rear admirals and footballers who get these things. It's nice to bring one home."

Margaret Fay, chair of regeneration agency One NorthEast, was appointed a CBE.

Helen Clegg-Hood, head teacher of Shiremoor Primary School, and Pauline Hardy, a clinical nurse at Newcastle General Hospital, have both become OBEs.

Alexander Tait, the former governor at HM Young Offenders' Institution in Castington, Northumberland, was appointed an OBE.