Sir

Your News story “Junior biologists score partial victory over lab conditions” (Nature 430, 7; 200410.1038/430007a) reported accusations by 16 former postdocs and graduate students against Professor Axel Meyer at the University of Konstanz, Germany. The complaints mainly concerned laboratory conditions, not the quality of research. As reported in Nature, an investigation by a university committee rejected some of the allegations but accepted others.

As former students, postdocs and scientific collaborators, we were surprised by the committee's decision to accept some of the complaints and by the ensuing media coverage. Our own experiences of working in or collaborating with Axel Meyer's lab have been far more positive. Those of us who have published with Meyer found that he provided crucial intellectual contributions to manuscripts. On numerous papers from his lab he was not an author.

Working in Meyer's lab, like in many others, demands a high level of dedication and it is sometimes necessary to change the direction of research to ensure these standards. This is a common situation in labs where scientific progress is the foremost priority.

Meyer contributed productively to the selection and planning of research projects while allowing associates sufficient independence when the research was proceeding well. Technical, logistical and financial support were always available to all lab members. Collaboration with Meyer took place in a fair, open and cooperative atmosphere.

Although some of us, at times, have disagreed strongly with him, we have all benefited scientifically from our past experiences or interactions with Meyer's group and unanimously support him now.

Miguel Vences University of Amsterdam, PO Box 94766, 1090 AT Amsterdam, The Netherlands

Rafael Zardoya  Museo Nacional de Ciencias Naturales, J. Gutiérrez Abascal 2, 28006 Madrid, Spain

Other signatories of this letter:

E. Abouheif, M.-A. Akimenko, F. Andreone, M. L. Arnold, L. Bargelloni, J. L. Boore, H. Brinkmann, R. Cerff, M. P. Cummings, S. Edwards, M. Ekker, R. Grosberg, I. Horovitz, D. M. Lambert, M. Lang, P. Lockhart, T. Mack, M. Marí-Beffa, D. P. Mindell, R. Owino, T. Patarnello, D. Penny, D. Reznick, P. A. Ritchie, L. Rüber, M. Schartl, C. Sturmbauer, J. S. Taylor, Y. Van de Peer, E. Verheyen, M. Veith, D. R. Vieites, J.-N. Volff, J. Wittbrodt