National Institute of Health researcher Dr. Trey Sunderland will be prosecuted for conflict of interest. The charge stems from an investigation that revealed Sunderland failed to report to the NIH $285,000 in fees he received from Pfizer. "The services he performed for [Pfizer]--including providing hundreds of spinal-tap samples prized for potential genetic clues that might help develop a treatment for Alzheimer's disease--were intertwined with his government duties," reports the Los Angeles Times. The inquiry began after a fellow researcher became suspicious when she discovered that many of the spinal-tap samples she had collected from patients were missing. This marks the first time in 14 years that an NIH official has been charged with this crime.

- read this Los Angeles Times article [1]

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