University President Marc Tessier-Lavigne is under investigation for alleged research misconduct following allegations first reported in The Daily that multiple papers co-authored by the president contain altered images.

In late November, The Daily broke the news that several papers co-authored by Tessier-Lavigne allegedly contain image manipulation. The Stanford Board of Trustees opened an investigation the next day, eventually bringing a former deputy attorney general, a Nobel Laureate, a former Princeton president and a former Harvard provost on board to review Tessier-Lavigne’s research.

Tessier-Lavigne maintained that the alleged image manipulations “had no bearing on the findings or conclusions” of his papers. Scientists contest that assertion. He also claimed to have had no involvement with the alleged duplications in a number of the papers – Stanford scientists pointed out that the Research Policy Handbook states “defense of minimal participation…is entirely inapplicable when one is coauthor of the disputed work.”

Science and Cell have issued Editorial Expressions of Concern for three papers for which Tessier-Lavigne is senior author.

In February 2023, several former colleagues of the University president told The Daily that a 2011 internal review of Tessier-Lavigne’s Alzheimer’s research had uncovered “falsified lab data” and that Tessier-Lavigne had opposed the review’s findings becoming public. The research had been seen as a promising target for Alzheimer’s treatment. Tessier-Lavigne denies this allegation.