STAT News reports that Aubrey de Grey (the prominent longevity personality) has been put on leave after multiple allegations of sexual harassment made by other researchers in this field.Laura Deming, founder of the long-term fund, posted on her blog on Tuesday that she would no more work with de Grey and SENS in future. She told a story about meeting de Grey at 14 years old. Three years later, when she was still minor, de Grey wrote to her, saying that he had had an adventurous love life, and that he wanted to talk to her for years.Celine Halioua is the founder and CEO at Loyal Biotech. She wrote a blog entry on the same day, in which she recounts her time as an intern at SENS, and how she was instructed to entertain de Grey at a 2016 dinner. She said that de Grey had funneled her alcohol and suggested she have sex at the dinner with donors to SENS.Halioua wrote that I was sobbing when I left that meal. It took me many years to get rid of the deeply-rooted belief that older men only wanted to have sex.AdvertisementAdvertisementBoth women claim that they are part of a larger group of unidentified women who have been forced to leave the field or had careers cut short by de Grey's inappropriate behavior and unwelcome advances. Halioua said that she quit her PhD to escape another SENS executive, who also harassed Halioua.STAT was informed by Lisa Fabiny, acting executive director of SENSE, that de Grey was accused in June. They placed de Grey on leave pending investigation. However, details are not available at this time.Fabiny stated that we respect the integrity and confidentiality of the investigative process. It would be inappropriate to speculate about the outcome while the process is ongoing. We can assure that we will consider the findings seriously and take appropriate action if necessary. We do not condone any behavior that makes scientists and colleagues feel victimized, targeted or harmed.De Grey declined STAT's request for comment and instead directed the publication to a facebook post, where he denied all allegations and made the unsubstantiated claim Deming and Halioua had deceived him into accusing him with misconduct and that some shadowy figure was using them as a target.AdvertisementAdvertisementREAD MORE: Aubrey de Grey, a pioneer in anti-aging research, is placed on leave due to sexual harassment allegations [STAT News]Aubrey de Grey: Scientists Believe Someone Born Today Will Live to Be 1,000
