I got in touch with the authorities in the university. The experts in charge of oversight were concerned and compassionate, but they also felt that Heather was a possible culprit. There was nothing in her behavior that suggested anything but a sterling character and devotion to science. But, once again, the suggestion made me fear it was true.

The tampering with Heather’s work continued and we ultimately asked the police to get involved. This was not a simple case of vandalism, I told them, but tampering with cancer research in which substantial resources had been invested. They dispatched a detective who helped me construct a detailed list of suspects. We started by identifying those who had access to the lab (students, staff), then narrowed it down to people who might have a grudge against Heather. We also looked at people who might hold a grudge against me — anyone I’d offended or let go in the past. But in the end, he too felt that Heather was the prime suspect.

So now what? The only thing left to do was install hidden cameras.

In April 2010, a couple of months after Heather’s email, the hidden cameras revealed the culprit: a postdoctoral fellow named Vipul Bhrigu, who, confronted with the video, confessed that he had sprayed alcohol into a cell culture medium in the refrigerator. We were in shock. Dr. Bhrigu was the most cooperative, passionate and friendly member of my lab. He’d been at the bottom of our suspect list.

After being taken to the police station, he and the detective returned to my office. “I am sorry,” he told me. “I have disgraced myself, hurt you, hurt the lab and know that you will never forgive me. I felt terrible every time I did this and almost hoped there was a camera. I thought Heather was so smart and I did it to slow her down. It was because of my internal pressure.”

Were we dealing with a sociopath, or was he being honest?

Obviously we can’t tolerate fraud, but the culture of scientific research may deserve some blame. There is more pressure than ever for researchers to generate huge amounts of data to publish high-impact papers. Those who publish less get less funding. We need a culture change. If we want to protect the integrity of our research, we need to protect the sanity of our researchers. Besides, good science happens when there is freedom to make mistakes, to learn from those mistakes, to discover the unexpected. Unrelenting pressure makes diamonds, not discoveries.

Dr. Bhrigu was convicted of a misdemeanor. The judge sentenced him to a psychological evaluation, to probation and to pay $30,000 in restitution to the University of Michigan. While on probation, he moved back home to India. I did, however, hear from the prosecution a few years later that he’d finished his probation after all and paid his fine in full.

Heather — Dr. Ames, now — completed her Ph.D. with flying colors. She is a top-notch pathologist and cancer biologist at Johns Hopkins University. She studies brain cancer. Nothing gets in her way.