Life Science Controversies of 2016

This year, the developers of CRISPR gene-editing technology argued over patent rights, a researcher fought to unmask anonymous PubPeer commenters, US regulators considered “three-parent” babies, and troubles continued for Theranos.

Written byJef Akst, Bob Grant, and Tracy Vence

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Two ongoing disputes brought The Scientist to the courtroom to listen in on the proceedings this year. The first is a defamation suit that former Wayne State University researcher Fazlul Sarkar brought against anonymous commenters on the post-publication peer review website PubPeer. Sarkar asked the court to reveal the identities of the individuals who had accused him of image manipulation, a claim he disputes but which allegedly cost him a job. The second is a heated patent battle over the intellectual property rights for CRISPR-Cas9 gene-editing technology, which holds great medical and industrial promise.

Meanwhile, the controversial assisted reproductive technique known as mitochondrial replacement therapy (MRT), which creates an embryo using DNA from three individuals, made great strides, resulting in the first successful births and an international a debate around the procedure, which is banned in the U.S.

Sarkar and PubPeer in Court BOB GRANTAs 2016 dawned, former Wayne State University pathologist Fazlul Sarkar vowed to continue his legal fight against anonymous commenters on post-publication peer review website PubPeer as tech industry and scientific bigwigs weighed in on the case. In January, former National Cancer Institute Director Harold Varmus, former Science Editor in Chief Bruce Alberts, and tech titans Google and Twitter filed amicus briefs supporting PubPeer and the anonymity of commenters after a Michigan judge ordered the identities of one of those commenters revealed to Sarkar’s legal team and PubPeer appealed the decision.

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Meet the Author

Jef Akst
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Jef (an unusual nickname for Jennifer) got her master’s degree from Indiana University in April 2009 studying the mating behavior of seahorses. After four years of diving off the Gulf Coast of Tampa and performing behavioral experiments at the Tennessee Aquarium in Chattanooga, she left research to pursue a career in science writing. As The Scientist's managing editor, Jef edited features and oversaw the production of the TS Digest and quarterly print magazine. In 2022, her feature on uterus transplantation earned first place in the trade category of the Awards for Excellence in Health Care Journalism. She is a member of the National Association of Science Writers.
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Bob Grant
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From 2017 to 2022, Bob Grant was Editor in Chief of The Scientist, where he started in 2007 as a Staff Writer. Before joining the team, he worked as a reporter at Audubon and earned a master’s degree in science journalism from New York University. In his previous life, he pursued a career in science, getting a bachelor’s degree in wildlife biology from Montana State University and a master’s degree in marine biology from the College of Charleston in South Carolina. Bob edited Reading Frames and other sections of the magazine.
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Tracy Vence
Tracy Vence was an editor at The Scientist from 2013 to 2017.
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