But the latest development — when a Suffolk County jury last week unanimously awarded him $6 million in damages in his civil lawsuit against Knouse, while rejecting his allegations of retaliation and harassment against him — are scenes he describes in great detail.
How the light went out on the clerk’s desk, indicating that the jury had reached its verdict. How the clerk passed the envelope containing his decision to the judge, then returned it to the foreman who read each charge aloud. How he didn’t react to the news of the damages he was awarded, but grabbed his brother’s hand as all of Knouse’s charges were dismissed.
“I don’t know if I believe it anymore, to be honest with you,” he said Sunday in a telephone interview.
Knouse, contacted through her attorney, Ellen Zucker, declined to comment. She will appeal the decision, Zucker said.
The last five years, as Sabatini went from being a distinguished biologist who generated Nobel Prize buzz to an outsider with whom schools refused to work, were “the most difficult years of my life,” he said.
The trial, which lasted three weeks, included grueling testimony, during which some former lab members said Sabatini fueled a toxic and sexually charged lab culture, while others praised his mentorship.
He was also once Knouse’s mentor — he first met her when she was a graduate student, and he ran a top lab at Whitehead. In a countersuit, she claimed he coerced her into a nonconsensual relationship and abused his position of power.
A few years ago, Sabatini rebuilt a lab in the Czech Republic, thanks to Bill Ackman, a New York hedge fund billionaire, who pledged $25 million over five years alongside an anonymous donor, to get Sabatini back on track. But when he received the keys to his new space in Prague, the room was empty and Sabatini struggled to hire staff to fill it.
“I started from scratch,” he said. “I remember thinking, ‘Wow, I had a lab that did crystallography, chemistry, mouse work, worked on ovarian cancer and Parkinson’s disease.’
He has since opened a second lab in Boston and shuttled between the two on “way too many planes,” he said. “I miss my son. I miss my family and I’m still jet-lagged.”
Today, Ackman – who has been highly critical of elite institutions, including MIT – is among those fiercely defending Sabatini online and calling on the university to explain itself.
In a series of posts on
“In light of what happened in this serious miscarriage of justice, MIT has the opportunity and obligation to right a grave wrong here,” Ackman wrote.
Ackman, contacted through his company spokesperson, had no further comment.
“Bill saved my life,” said Sabatini, who denied speculation that Ackman helped fund his legal defense.
It’s unclear how Knouse, who is currently an assistant professor of biology at MIT and a faculty member at its Koch Institute for Integrative Cancer Research, will pay the $6 million in damages awarded to Sabatini, plus interest.
In response to the verdict, Kimberly Allen, an MIT spokeswoman, said the Whitehead Institute “is an independent, nonprofit research institution, with its own facilities” and that the university was not a party to Sabatini’s original lawsuit — which was filed against Knouse, the Whitehead, and Lehmann, the director.
In a statement, the Whitehead Institute board said it had “full confidence” in Lehmann’s leadership and workplace policies, which included the investigation into Sabatini’s lab. The court previously dismissed all complaints filed by Sabatini against the institute.
The university stood by its previous public comments on the matter, with a letter from then-President L. Rafael Reif. Reif wrote that “Sabatini behaved in a manner inconsistent with the responsibilities of a faculty member,” announcing Sabatini’s decision to resign in 2022, after a review committee recommended the termination of his tenure.
Sabatini said he would like to see more “accountability in how these decisions are made, more transparency” from MIT and Whitehead.
“I was clearly in a situation where it was acceptable to put myself aside,” he said. “I didn’t matter there. I think anyone can find themselves in that situation.”
Jeffrey Flier, former dean of Harvard Medical School, was part of a chorus of scientists weighing in on social media, with a post on X asking what the jury’s verdict implied about the validity of MIT’s response to Sabatini at the time.
In a written statement, he said he had “significant concerns about the propriety of the investigation.”
For Sabatini, the verdict seems comforting, but thinking about MIT always brings back memories of dear friends, “extraordinary students, extraordinary colleagues,” he said. That includes Knouse, who he called his “best friend in Boston,” sharing that she played video games and cooked blondies with her now-teenage son.
“A big part of me still wishes him very well,” he said.
As for his old laboratory, he remembers it as a “nice place”, where he had no regrets. He was able to train students to continue their own research, and nearly 50 former members of his lab are now conducting theirs.
“It was a really hard-working lab, really, really hard. People were passionate,” he said. “Were stupid and stupid things done sometimes? Yes. But was there cruelty and wickedness? There was none.”
The last five years have changed him – his hair has thinned and taken a physical and mental toll – but if he were offered the chance to return to MIT, “get well” and continue training the next generation of scientists, would he do it?
“The answer is yes,” he said. “But in good conditions.”
Michaela Towfighi can be contacted at michaela.towfighi@globe.com. Follow her on @michaelatowfghi.
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