Robert Gallo

The 2008 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine recognised Luc Montagnier and Françoise Barré-Sinoussi for discovering HIV, without including Gallo. A significant part of the HIV research community protested, arguing that his contributions — viral culture, robust demonstration of the link with AIDS and test development — also deserved the highest recognition.

State of the evidence

Documented

Following new analyses showing that the strain used for the US test originated from the French culture after contamination, the United States and France revised their royalties arrangement in favour of Institut Pasteur, and the official account of credit allocation changed.

State of the evidence

Documented

The Office of Research Integrity dropped the allegations against Gallo and his colleague Mikulas Popovic after concluding that, under the applicable evidential standard and in light of changes to the rules, the record could not sustain the misconduct charges.

State of the evidence

Documented

Attribution

Accused

Following press investigations and the French challenge, Congressman John Dingell and NIH/OSI bodies examined the operations of Gallo's laboratory, laboratory notebooks and how the origin of certain cultures had been presented. Reports highlighted poor record-keeping and supervision problems.

State of the evidence

Documented

In 1992, the Office of Research Integrity concluded that Gallo had committed scientific misconduct concerning a statement in the 1984 Science paper, finding in particular that he had misleadingly presented his laboratory's ability to grow the French virus and bore supervisory responsibility.

State of the evidence

Documented

Attribution

Accused

The United States and Institut Pasteur disputed patents and royalties relating to the first HIV screening blood test. The US patent was based on work by Gallo's laboratory, while the French maintained that their virus had been used and that they had priority.

State of the evidence

Documented

A Franco-American agreement announced by Ronald Reagan and Jacques Chirac shared scientific credit and royalties from the HIV test between the French and American teams, temporarily ending the institutional dispute.

State of the evidence

Settlement

After the Institut Pasteur team isolated a retrovirus associated with AIDS, a sample was sent to Gallo's laboratory. In 1984, the American group published a series of papers strongly establishing the link between the virus and AIDS and developed a laboratory strain, HTLV-IIIB. Subsequent analyses showed that this strain corresponded to the French virus following contamination of cultures, fuelling a lasting dispute over priority, attribution and origin of viral material.

State of the evidence

Well documented

In the mid-1970s, Robert Gallo's team published research presenting HL23V as a retrovirus associated with human leukaemia cells. Subsequent research showed that the signal arose from contamination by primate retroviruses in cell cultures, invalidating the original interpretation.

State of the evidence

Documented