Scientist exiled from US brain research finds well-funded lab in China
- Xiang-Dong Fu, who left California over suspicions about his foreign links, has joined Westlake University in southern China
- Fu, who denies any wrongdoing, said his new lab is well-resourced and his work into Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s will continue
Xiang-Dong Fu, a Chinese-born US citizen, resigned from the University of California San Diego in December – after 30 years with its school of medicine – in the wake of an investigation into his links with Chinese scientists and institutions.
The UCSD investigation started in 2019, one year after Fu was named a distinguished professor of cellular and molecular medicine. His long-standing research into basic aspects of RNA and its role in diseases led to several breakthroughs.
In 2020, Fu’s team used a gene-editing technique to convert mouse brain cells into neurons, which could be used directly to reverse Parkinson’s – a disease caused by the loss of certain neurons and traditionally treated by preventing the neurons from dying.
Fu claimed he was forced out of his position at UCSD after the investigation found he had violated its conflict of commitment policy which outlines limitations on foreign collaboration.
His lawyer told the San Diego Union-Tribune in December that suspicion had fallen on Fu because some of his papers acknowledged the contributions of Chinese scientists and universities, alongside the US National Institutes of Health (NIH).
