Comment on article

In an article (“Monkey-brain study with link to China's military roils top European university”, published by Reuters November 18, 2021) published on November 18th,, 2021 Reuters reports that Guojie Zhang, professor at the Department of Biology at the University of Copenhagen, has conducted genetic research with the Chinese military without disclosing the connection to his superiors at the University of Copenhagen. Reuters refers to a scientific paper (“Neuroprotectants attenuate hypobaric hypoxia-induced brain injuries in cynomolgus monkeys”, published in Zoological Research, Jan 18, 2020 ) co-published by Guojie Zhang in January 2020 and calls it 'an example of […] China's pursuit of biotechnology with a military use’.

The Faculty of Science at the University of Copenhagen hereby clarifies the university's view on this issue:

Professor Zhang is not under any kind of scrutiny over this scientific study. Professor Zhang has complied with the rules at the Faculty of Science and at the University of Copenhagen in force at the time of publication. The study was a basic research project following the procedures at the University of Copenhagen. All the research results have been peer-reviewed and published in the scientific literature and with open declaration of the co-authors as it is the standard. The scientific article can be accessed by anyone. Finally, we would like to state that we are very proud to have Professor Zhang as one of our very highly performing researchers.

Katrine Krogh Andersen
Dean

Niels Kroer
Head of Department of Biology