Comments on the Research Council’s decision to freeze grant payments to fraud suspect

Kommentar: The Swedish Research Council issued a press release this morning announcing a freeze on grant payouts to ACTREM (the Centre for Regenerative Medicine) at Karolinska Institutet. Karolinska Institutet now has three weeks to formulate an official response to this decision.

The ongoing investigation into suspected scientific misconduct at Karolinska Institutet has not yet reached a conclusion. The Higher Education Ordinance charges the vice-chancellor of Karolinska Institutet with investigating such matters, and the current case is to be decided on the basis of complaints levelled against a visiting professor at KI, the expert statement of opinion submitted by the external investigator Bengt Gerdin and the comments expected from the visiting professor and the other authors of the relevant scientific papers.

The deadline for these comments is 24 June. The date of Karolinska Institutet’s decision on the matter will therefore depend on the volume of material submitted and the information they contain.

The Karolinska Institutet management has no further comment on the Swedish Research Council’s announcement at this juncture.

The Swedish Research Council press release (in Swedish).