<< Previous Section | < Previous Page | Next Page > | Next Section >> Case: Sharing in the Laboratory Setting Al Glantz has recently completed a successful thesis defense and is planning for his move across the country to his new laboratory. He arranged a meeting with his mentor and lab chief, Calvin Jones. Al: I'm really grateful for your support over these five years. I learned a great deal. The lab environment was terrific and your recommendation, I'm sure, was instrumental in my obtaining such a promising post-doctorial fellowship. Prof. Jones: Well, you're one of my best trainees ever and I'm proud of your accomplishments and have great expectations for you as a scientist. Al: That's great. I thought that this would be a good time to review some housekeeping details so that I can use my remaining time in the lab most productively. Prof. Jones: That's a great idea. What do you have in mind? Al: Well, I need to write a new investigator proposal to the NIH and I want to continue the work I've been doing here. I have some new ideas to pursue. In order to do that, I would like to utilize all our unpublished results as background and preliminary results for the fellowship application and get a letter from you supporting me and indicating that I will have access to all the DNA probes and monoclonal antibodies I prepared for our projects here. Then I'll really be able to get a good start. I want to start on the grant right away. When I get that done, I will get back to completing the papers describing our most recent results. Prof. Jones: I'm glad we had this chance to get together on this, because we must make plans for your last three months. I would be happy to write you a good letter with regard to your grant proposal. You have a right to describe anything you personally did as preliminary work but you must not use other unpublished results from the laboratory unless they are accepted for publication and you are a co-author. If I were you, I would write up the papers first because as you know, the data belongs to the lab and when you're gone, if the papers aren't submitted, I'll ask Fred to write them up and he'll be first author. You will be able to take the monoclonals, cell lines and C-DNA probes that we send out but you will not be able to take any irreplaceable materials. Finally, you are going to a competing lab that shares materials poorly, so your ability to receive material from us will depend on reciprocity. We have others here whose careers need to be built, you know. Questions: Was Prof. Jones being unfair? Was Al expecting too much? Was Jones statement consistent with NIH rules on sharing? Who owns the data? << Previous Section | < Previous Page | Next Page > | Next Section >> Chapter 1 Quick Links The Ethical Basis of RCRH The Nature of Science Research Integrity Professionalism in Science Practical Elements of Responsible Research Conduct Cases Bibliography Chapter 1 Download (PDF)