Researchers charged with DNA theft.

Material was slated for Alzheimer's study

BASIC SCIENCE RESEARCH INTO THE CAUSE of Alzheimer's disease may have suffered a setback in a bizarre series of events that might have been taken from the pages of a spy novel.

In May, a federal grand jury charged Takashi Okamoto, 40, a former researcher at the Cleveland Clinic Foundation's Lerner Research Institute, and Hiroaki Serizawa, 39, a faculty member at Kansas University Medical Center, Kansas City, Kan., with four counts of conspiracy, economic espionage, and interstate shipment of stolen property. The charges followed a two-year investigation. If convicted, the two Japanese nationals could face up to 30 years in prison and $1 million in fines.

According to the U.S. Department of Justice, this case marks the first time that charges have been brought under the Economic Espionage Act of 1996.

Here is what is alleged to have happened, according to the indictment:

Okamoto, head of a research project funded by the National Institutes of Health and other sources for nearly $2 million at Cleveland Clinic, was using human and animal DNA that had been genetically engineered for studying cause and possible treatment of Alzheimer's. In April 1999, he secretly accepted a job in Japan with RIKEN, a research institute primarily financed by the Japanese government. In early July of the same year, Okamoto took genetic material from his lab and then shipped it to Serizawa who stored it at KU Medical Center. Okamoto abruptly resigned July 26 and in August retrieved the four boxes of DNA from Serizawa.

The United States is seeking extradition of Okamoto; Serizawa has been arrested.

A spokesperson for the Alzheimer's Association commented on the incident's impact on research into the disease: "We can't say that one approach affects the overall progress toward a cure. There are lots of interesting, promising, and exciting approaches."

Alzheimer's disease projected growth by decades
(in millions)
Today                            4
2010 (First Baby Boomers reach
age 65)                          5.85
2020                             6.8
2030                             8.7
2040                            11.8
2050                            14.3
Source: Alzheimer's Association
Note: Table made from bar graph