A recent focus on research security led Congress to ask the FBI to engage with academic institutions to protect American innovation and cutting-edge research. An FBI Special Agent will present a seminar on what the FBI perceives to be a principal threat to the security of proprietary and sensitive research at MSU. The briefing will discuss vulnerabilities, case studies, and statistics to help protect MSU. This briefing is sponsored by the FBI in conjunction with the Office of Research Compliance & Security.

The Surgisphere Scandal - A case study in research misconduct: This session will dissect the case of an obscure US company with a hastily constructed website that drove international health policy and brought major clinical trials to a halt within the span of a few weeks. The case centers on a paper published in The Lancet that suggested hydroxychloroquine, an antimalarial drug, was associated with an increased risk of death in patients hospitalized with COVID-19. Within days, the study caused public health bodies including the WHO to change strategy and suspend recruitment of clinical trials. Shortly thereafter, however, cracks began to appear in the study and the many problems came to light. We will discuss how something like this could happen so quickly and whether it could be prevented from happening again. We will also consider the legacy for public health.