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Best-selling romantic novelist Dame Catherine Cookson, well-known for her generosity to Newcastle 51¹ú²úÊÓƵ, has donated Pounds 45,000 to Dundee 51¹ú²úÊÓƵ's new biomedical research institute.

Philip Cohen, institute director, said: "This is a delightfully generous and far-thinking gesture from a most unexpected quarter." The donation from the 90-year-old author, to be known as the Catherine Cookson studentship, would fund a PhD student for three years, he said.

Since Dundee raised the initial capital funds for the Pounds 12 million Wellcome Trust Building, it has sent out scores of letters to potential sponsors, raising more than Pounds 800,000. Dame Catherine's husband said her contribution was in the spirit of "helping those who help themselves".