Head of Austrian med school canned

The rector of a prominent Austrian medical university has been fired in the midst of a linkurl:scientific misconduct investigation;http://www.the-scientist.com/blog/display/54932/ that has plagued the institution for months. The Medical University of Innsbruck's seven-person council unceremoniously dumped linkurl:Clemens Sorg,;http://www.i-med.ac.at/mypoint/news/2007111301.xml an immunologist and the rector of the university, from his position on August 21, according to a linkurl:report;http://www.nature.com/news/2008/080827/full/4541041a.html?s=news_rss in __Nature__. Last November, Sorg raised the alarm on university urologists who were testing a linkurl:stem cell therapy;http://www.the-scientist.com/news/display/53610/ that used patients' own cells to treat urinary incontinence. Earlier this month, those researchers - who included linkurl:Hannes Strasser,;http://www.uro-innsbruck.at/inkontinenz/englisch/website_en/mitarbeiter.htm the study's lead author - were accused, in a report from Austria's Agency for Health and Food Safety, of failing to randomize study participants adequately, designing the trial poorly, proceeding with the study despite a lack of appropriate ethical clearance, and inadequately informing study participants of the nature of the experiment. The study was published last year in...