Stanford president resigns amid research scandal

The president of Stanford University has resigned as questions about the validity and sourcing of his research continued to swirl. President Marc Tessier-Lavigne made the news public in a statement on Wednesday, adding that he was cleared of "any fraud or falsification of scientific data." This comes as the DEI dean at the school also resigned.

Stanford University was recently named in the Missouri v. Biden internet censorship case, in which a judge issued an injunction against the Biden administration over concerns that they are engaging in censorship through contacts with social media companies and research facilities. There were concerns, the judge wrote, "that the White House was coordinating with the Stanford Internet Observatory (which was operating the Virality Project)."

The Biden administration is alleged by the Attorney General of Missouri, as well as those of several other states, to have been coordinating with the Virality Project to direct the messaging surrounding Covid and the hastily made Covid vaccines.

It was revealed via the Twitter Files in March that Stanford and the Virality Project also worked to censot "stories of true vaccine side effects." The Virality Project in league with the Biden administration termed the first-hand accounts of side effects from people taking the vaccine equated to a "disinformation event." The Stanford Virality Project also took issue with the Covid "lab leak" theory, which is now widely believed to be true.

Prior to his executive post at Stanford, Tessier-Lavigne was a neuroscientist specializing in degenerative brain diseases who led several research labs at the University of California. It was in this capacity that he engaged in research that later came under scrutiny. 

Five papers that listed Tessier-Lavigne as a principal author included, per NBC, "work from 'some members of labs overseen by Dr. Tessier-Lavigne' who had 'either engaged in inappropriate manipulation of research data or engaged in deficient scientific practices, resulting in significant flaws in those papers.'"

Tessier-Lavigne said three of those papers would be retracted, and the two others will be corrected, saying "four of the five papers are ones that I have known for some time have issues."

In the statement, he said "I am gratified that the Panel concluded I did not engage in any fraud or falsification of scientific data. Specifically, the Panel did not find that I engaged in research misconduct regarding the twelve papers reviewed, nor did it find I had knowledge of or was reckless regarding research misconduct in my lab. 

"As I have emphatically stated, I have never submitted a scientific paper without firmly believing that the data were correct and accurately presented. Today’s report supports that statement."

"In the 32 years I have headed a research laboratory," he said, "I have published 74 papers of which I am a principal author, and over 150 of which I am a non-principal author.  Of the twelve papers that were part of the Special Committee’s review, seven are ones of which I am a non-principal author and where the images in question were generated in the principal author’s lab. With respect to those papers, the Panel’s conclusions support that I did not have knowledge of any errors or manipulation of research data."

Questions about the work first arose in 2015 on PUBPEER, a site where scientists can give feedback on each other's work. Anonymous comments are also permitted. Then in November 2022, the European Molecular Biology Organization was revealed to be reviewing one of those papers.

"He should have supervised better," scientist and researcher Elisabeth Bik said. "As a senior author in scientific papers, you're not the person standing in the lab, but you're ultimately responsible for the integrity of the work."

Tessier-Lavigne said in a statement that he trusted the students and postdoctoral researchers more than he should have.

Bik's concern was that those most obvious flaws in the data might cover up deeper, hidden flaws.

"The things that have been flagged, the image problems, those are the visible problems. If you see visible problems in photos, that might be a sign there are other problems you might not be able to catch," she said.

Tessier-Lavigne said that despite being exonerated, he would resign effective August 31 "for the good of the University." A report from the Board of Trustees did not outright accuse Tessier-Lavigne of fraud, but instead questioned those working under him, for whom he was responsible. 

"Tessier-Lavigne took insufficient steps to correct mistakes in the scientific record," the Board said. Tessier-Lavigne will remain on Stanford's faculty. As for being president, he said "it has been the greatest honor and most fulfilling experience of my career."