Former Stanford president posts emails to counter fraud claims in new book

Former Stanford president Marc Tessier-Lavigne has posted a more than 3,000-word response on his lab website, including emails with former colleagues, to dispute claims that he fabricated research results.

The claims were raised in Theo Baker’s book "How to Rule the World," which portrays Tessier-Lavigne as a case of scientific misconduct related to a 2009 neurodegeneration paper published while he was at Genentech.

In his rebuttal, Tessier-Lavigne argues the study was valid and uses the released correspondence to support his defense, seeking to restore his reputation after a misconduct investigation led to his resignation as Stanford’s president.

The episode has renewed attention on research integrity issues within academic-industry collaborations in the biotech sector.