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IN MARCH OF 1994 I STARTED A LAW SUIT AGAINST THE UNIVERSITY OF TORONTO AND CERTAIN ITS EMPLOYEES FOR FRAUD, MALICIOUS BREACH OF TRUST AND FIDUCIARY DUTY, ETC. FOLLOWING BELOW AND TO THE END ARE MY ALLEGATIONS.

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I was from 1981 to 1986 a Ph.D. candidate at the Dept. of Zoology. My thesis research presented a significant contribution in the field of developmental biology and it was used by my supervisor, Prof.Ellen Larsen (Ellen Rapport), for her extensive review paper, where the sole contribution to the subject from her laboratory was my research and the only reference somehow related to her laboratory was a quotation of my paper published in 1980 in the Journ. of Theor. Biol. My research was also used as a foundation for a M.Sc. thesis of her student. Eleven times she appraised my research as progressing satisfactorily.

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In Fall of 1985 I had at least one more year to complete the thesis, when she wrote to me that I have not done enough experiments and, then, persuaded Graduate Committee to change my status to a lapsed candidate, i.e. to remove me from laboratory. But, doing more experiments would require my staying in the laboratory, and Prof.Larsen, who wanted me out, changed her requirement to another one, now linked to my theoretical work. The arguments seemed to me as a pretext to delay my thesis indefinitely, but I had no reason to suspect fraud. I stayed there till August 1986, trying to persuade her to change the decision, but unsuccessfully, and I had to leave.

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Back in 1985, at the request of Prof.Larsen, I presented (with also her co-authorship) a poster with my latest results at a conference. So, four months later, when she started removing me from the University, she thought that her co-authorship was secured. But, a few weeks before I left, she became aware that it so happened, that the abstract of this poster was never published by the editors. She quickly made her own, quite crude, compilation of the results of my research of five years and offered me to publish it under both names. I, at first, agreed, then, realizing that her automatic co-authorship is quite unsavory in the new situation, declined.

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A year later, she phoned me and asked to sign Copyright Transfer for publication of that same paper which she, after I left, sent secretly to the journal and which was already accepted. I vigorously protested her second attempt to obtain authorship of the research to which she did not contribute scientifically a bit. I was assured by the letter from the Head of the Dept. that the article is withdrawn.

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This assurance was, however, a deception: the U of T intended to steal my discoveries and never intended to see me back with my thesis, as the swindling operation continued. With the knowledge of the Department, Prof.Larsen published in 1989 my discoveries under her name, acknowledging fraudulently and sadistically in a footnote thanks to me for "sharing" my technique and unspecified my "ideas". She did her "research" by hiring another student and repeating my experiments. My other results were stolen without such repeating. As to the origin of the whole idea for these experiments, her recommendation in 1981 admitted (and there are more similar admissions) that I "...outlined an entirely novel approach to looking at morphogenesis..."

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Moreover, when I left, but, very significantly, before I protested the 1987 publication, she sent to publication two articles (published in 1987 and 1988) in which my work and ideas are attributed to her. In them, she blasted off confidentiality of my research, cunningly pretending that the poster of 1985 was published in a book, and she quoted nonexistent publication. Sadly for her, these two articles betray the fact that her "original" paper in 1989 is, simply, made to fit my results "shared" with her as supervisor years before. She makes, however, no reference to the 1985 "poster made into publication" in her 1989 paper, as this pretends to be the original research.

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Until 1993 I had no knowledge of all "scientific" activity which followed the assurance from the Department. I was unemployed and in a terrible situation. Upon making these findings, I complained to the President of the U of T. but was given only a suggestion by the Department to present the thesis, which, by this time, was completely stolen; any plagiarism was denied. I went to law library, then - to the court. The U of T succeeded in striking out half of my claim, saying that court has no jurisdiction over "academic matters", but, after ten months the important parts of the case were restored by the Court of Appeal of Ontario.

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After I made a complaint to Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council, Provost asked Prof.D.N. Dewees, a lawyer, Vice-Dean, a member of Economic Council of Canada, Institute for Policy Analysis, etc., who was unable to read the scientific articles in question or to hear my argument, to investigate my allegations of plagiarism. He concluded that my research was not confidential (although, he admits that I never published it), that Prof.Larsen "replicated or extended" my work, that she "salvaged" my work after I refused to publish it, and he found "no academic misconduct". Subsequently, NSERC answered: "...Dr.Larsen behaved in a reasonable manner given your refusal to have the 1987 article published."

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I n my five years at the U of T when I was led to believe that I worked for my degree, there was not a single instance of displeasure with me. A reference says: "...Departmental Graduate Committee ranked him 1st of 7 applicants for PGS-3 awards. He has already proven himself as an independent researcher on both practical and theoretical levels. We feel that he has the ability to make outstanding contributions to his research field." Yet, when I made the contributions, I was thrown out, my research of five years was stolen, my name and my life are destroyed. It is astonishing that nobody at the U of T ever wanted to talk to me - the fraudsters know exactly what they are doing. I demanded three times the declaration returning the research under my name, but they still are silent. They, sure, know that what they are doing is intolerable and unbearable.

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The documents which I will make available for expertise, reveal the reign of total dishonesty at the U of T - this cradle of the "gentler and kindlier society". Only a small part of the tricks is mentioned here. The explanations of the reason for my departure differ wildly in different documents. The concealment of fraud includes ridiculous justifications for outright forgery in science and falsification of academic rules in court documents, all in a hope that this will never be seen by the honest part of the academic community and students.

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My attempt to obtain expert opinions from 78 professors of the Zoology Dept. was unsuccessful, apparently, frustrated by the letter sent to them immediately from the U of T lawyer. The only letter I received is from Prof. M.F. Filosa, who also sent letter to the Head of the Dept. and to the President, expressing resentment for the procedures used by the U of T. I also have a letter from the President of Canadian Genetics Society, Prof. A.J. Hilliker and Prof. S.R.Blecher (Univ. of Guelph) supporting my claims against Prof.Larsen and the U of T "investigation".

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I am now asking for your help. The Ministry of Education flatly refused to deal with the case. GSU did not do anything for a year. I have enormous difficulty in finding a lawyer for the trial: I do not have any money and the Legal Aid is refused. I desperately need expert opinions on the academic custom related to publication, confidentiality of research, etc., and on the articles in question. The file with ab. 80 pages of documents is available for this purpose.

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MY ADDRESS IS:

Mr. M. Pyshnov,
325 Bogert Avenue, Apt.370,
Willowdale, Ontario,
M2N 1L8, Canada

Tel: (416) 733-8936
Sorry, the calls in some cases are being diverted to the wrong number,
but phone is still better than mail.

Or you can e-mail to:
mpyshnov@syntac.net

T H A N K  Y O U

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