发信人: Todd (托德), 信区: Biology
标 题: (ZZ) Two Charged with Stealing Genes From Harvard
发信站: The unknown SPACE (Mon Jun 24 15:57:46 2002) WWW-POST

JIANGYU ZHU AND FRANK MCKEON
Nature 398, 256 - 260 (1999)


BOSTON (Reuters) - In a case shining a spotlight on the high-stakes world of
academic medical research, police
arrested two foreign-born scientists on Wednesday and accused them of trying
to use genetic materials allegedly
stolen from a Harvard Medical School lab to make and sell drugs.

Chinese national Jiangyu Zhu and Kayoko Kimbara of Japan were taken into
custody in San Diego and charged in a
criminal complaint with conspiracy, theft of trade secrets and interstate
transportation of stolen property, U.S. Attorney
for the District of Massachusetts Michael Sullivan said.

The two researchers, both permanent residents of the United States working as
postdoctoral fellows, allegedly stole
genes that showed promise for use in halting organ rejection in transplant
patients, according to a criminal complaint
filed in federal court in Boston.

The complaint alleges Zhu, 30, and Kimbara, 32, took the materials, some of
which are the subject of a patent
application, when they quit Harvard for jobs at the University of Texas, even
though they signed agreements forbidding
them from doing so.

"Zhu and Kimbara took and conspired to take proprietary and highly marketable
scientific information belonging to Harvard with them to Texas, with the
intention of profiting from such information by collaborating with a Japanese
company in the creation and sale of related and derivative products," the
complaint read. The two went so far as to mail several samples to the Japanese
company, which produced antibodies for use in possible drugs and shipped them
to Zhu in Texas, the complaint alleged.

The Japanese company was not named in the complaint. It cooperated with the
investigation, which was continuing, the U.S. attorney said. If convicted on
all charges, the two face up to 25 years in prison and fines of up to
$750,000. The two will be returned to Massachusetts to face the charges. Much
of the allegedly stolen material has been returned to Harvard. The two were
living in San Diego after leaving their jobs in Texas. Harvard Medical School
said it was cooperating with the investigation and referred questions to the
U.S. attorney.

ISOLATED TWO GENES

Between 1997 and 1999, while working in the lab of Harvard cell biologist Dr.
Frank McKeon, Zhu and Kimbara searched
for immunosuppressive drugs that could help prevent the rejection of organ
transplants. By early 1999, Zhu and
Kimbara had isolated two genes with potential for treating diseases affecting
the immune, cardiovascular and nervous
systems.

About that time, the complaint alleges, Zhu and Kimbara began working
overnight shifts without direct supervision from
McKeon. In reviewing some of the results of their work, McKeon grew
suspicious the two were hiding research.

"Dr. McKeon attempted to keep tabs on the work being performed by Zhu and
Kimbara, but this was difficult given their
unusual hours and their reluctance to have meaningful discussions with him,"
the complaint read.

McKeon confronted the two in late 1999 but they denied they were concealing
any work from him and did not mention
they intended to leave Harvard for the University of Texas, the complaint
said.

Over the Christmas vacation in 1999, the two allegedly stole about 20 cartons
from the Harvard lab and shipped them
to Texas.

"Most of these boxes were removed in the very early morning hours or at
night, in an apparent effort to effect the
removal of the materials during odd hours over an extended holiday period,"
the complaint said.


--
※ 来源:．The unknown SPACE bbs.mit.edu．[FROM: 129.59.237.212]