David Sabatini has been placed on leave by Massachusetts Institute of Technology following a sexual harassment investigation, the Boston Globe reports. It adds that Sabatini is also no longer associated with MIT's Whitehead Institute, where he ran a lab, or the Howard Hughes Medical Institute, which funded his work, and could have his tenure revoked.
A recent Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion survey uncovered concerning issues with the Sabatini lab that prompted MIT to hire an outside law firm to investigate, the Globe reports. That investigation found that Sabatini violated the Whitehead's policies on sexual harassment. The report "raises very serious concerns about sexual and workplace harassment," Nergis Mavalvala, the dean of the MIT School of Science, wrote in a letter to biology faculty Friday, according to the Globe.
An MIT spokesperson additionally tells Science. That the "senior administration is reviewing the report and determining next steps in response to these findings, up to and including revocation of tenure proceedings."
Science adds that Sabatini's lab, which studies pathways regulating growth and metabolism in mammals, includes 39 people and that MIT human resources personnel are to help them into other roles. Sabatini also co-founded KSQ Therapeutics and Raze Therapeutics, the Globe says.