Stanford College president publicizes resignation over considerations about his analysis

SAN FRANCISCO — The president of Stanford College mentioned Wednesday he would resign, citing an unbiased assessment that cleared him of analysis misconduct however discovered “critical flaws” in 5 scientific papers on topics akin to mind growth wherein he was the principal creator.

Marc Tessier-Lavigne mentioned in an announcement to college students and workers that he would step down Aug. 31.

The resignation comes after the board of trustees launched a assessment in December following allegations he engaged in fraud and different unethical conduct associated to analysis and papers which can be in some instances 20 years outdated (1999, 2001, 2001)

Tessier-Lavigne, a neuroscientist, says he “by no means submitted a scientific paper with out firmly believing that the information had been appropriate and precisely offered.” However he says he ought to have been extra diligent in looking for corrections concerning his work and he ought to have operated laboratories with tighter controls.

Panelists discovered a number of situations of manipulated knowledge within the 12 papers they investigated, however concluded he was not chargeable for the misconduct. Nonetheless, they discovered that every of the 5 papers wherein he was principal creator “has critical flaws within the presentation of analysis knowledge” and in at the very least 4 of them, there was obvious manipulation of knowledge by others.

Tessier-Lavigne mentioned he was conscious of points with 4 of the 5 papers however acknowledged taking “inadequate” steps to take care of the problems. He mentioned he’ll retract three of the papers and proper two.

The papers had been revealed earlier than Tessier-Lavigne grew to become Stanford president.

Misconduct allegations in regards to the work had been first aired on PubPeer, an internet site the place members of the scientific group can focus on analysis papers, the report acknowledged. Questions resurfaced after The Stanford Day by day, the college’s student-run newspaper, revealed a number of tales in regards to the integrity of stories revealed by his laboratories.

The aggressive reporting merited investigations editor and then-college freshman Theo Baker a particular George Polk journalism award. Baker advised The Related Press Wednesday that the retractions and corrections wouldn’t have occurred in any other case.

“The truth that we’re in a position to contribute to the scientific file being corrected for 5 extensively cited papers is necessary,” he mentioned.

The panel cleared Tessier-Lavigne of probably the most critical allegations, {that a} 2009 paper revealed within the scientific journal Nature was the topic of a fraud investigation and that fraud was discovered. There was no investigation and no fraud found, the panel dominated. The paper proposed a mannequin of neurodegeneration, which might have nice potential for Alzheimer’s illness analysis and remedy, the panel wrote in its report.

However the panel additionally concluded the paper had a number of issues, together with a scarcity of rigor in its growth and that the analysis that went into the paper and its presentation contained “numerous errors and shortcomings.” The panel didn’t discover proof that Tessier-Lavigne was conscious of the shortage of rigor.

“Folks have a tendency to think about scientists as these people that they’ve heard of like Einstein and Marie Curie,” mentioned H. Holden Thorp, editor-in-chief of the Science household of journals. “The reality is that researchers run laboratories full of folks, and the whole lot that occurs in that laboratory is a product of many people there.”

Whereas the report cleared Tessier-Lavigne of analysis misconduct, Thorp mentioned finally the boss is chargeable for what occurs within the lab – and shouldn’t be distracted by doing different jobs. He pointed to the report’s discovering that lab tradition performed a job.

Tessier-Lavigne says he’s stepping down as a result of he expects continued debate about his capacity to guide the college. He’ll stay on school as a biology professor. He additionally mentioned he’ll proceed his analysis into mind growth and neurodegeneration.

The board named Richard Saller, a classics professor, as interim president beginning Sept. 1, mentioned board chair Jerry Yang.

In an announcement, Yang mentioned Tessier-Lavigne was key to creating the college’s first new college in 70 years, the Stanford Doerr College of Sustainability, and in 2019, he unveiled a strategic long-range plan that can proceed to information the college’s progress.

Tessier-Lavigne has been president for almost seven years.

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Related Press reporter Lauran Neergaard contributed to this report from Washington.