Contract analysis

I. EXECUTIVE SUMMARY Calderwood & Harkness LLP ("C&H") was retained by Thornwick Medical Research Institute ("TMRI") on September 10, 2024, to conduct an independent workplace investigation into formal grievances filed by five TMRI employees against Dr. Marcus Ellender, Director of Biomedical Engineering Laboratories. The investigation was initiated at the request and under the direction of TMRI's General Counsel, El

1. Termination of Dr. Ellender's employment for cause pursuant to TMRI Employee Handbook § 9.2.

2. Referral to TMRI's Institutional Biosafety Committee and OSHA for review of the substantiated safety-protocol violations and evaluation of mandatory reporting obligations.

3. Notification to NIH Grants Management regarding the change in principal investigator status on two active NIH R01 grants (combined remaining funding of approximately $3.1 million).

4. Mandatory anti-retaliation and supervisory-conduct training for all lab directors and supervisors.

5. Revision of TMRI's safety-incident reporting procedures to include anonymous reporting options, independent EHS review, and enhanced chain-of-custody requirements for laboratory records.

6. Individual remediation for each of the five complainants, including restoration of research assignments, correction of personnel records, and protections from further retaliation. The remainder of this report sets forth in detail the scope and methodology of the investigation, the factual background, the evidence gathered, the analysis applied, and the basis for each finding and recommendation.

II. SCOPE AND METHODOLOGY A. Engagement and Authority On September 6, 2024, TMRI General Counsel Elena Graff contacted Renata Vasquez, Partner in the Labor & Employment Practice Group at Calderwood & Harkness LLP, to discuss the potential retention of outside counsel to conduct an independent investigation into formal grievances that had been filed by multiple employees of TMRI against Dr. Marcus Ellender, Director o

1. Retaliation. Employees alleged that Dr. Ellender engaged in retaliatory conduct against employees who reported safety concerns to TMRI's EHS office or other internal authorities. Retaliatory conduct alleged included adverse reassignment of a research scientist from an NIH-funded project and threats of termination directed at a lab technician. These allegations implicate the Massachusetts Whistleblower Protection A

2. Hostile Work Environment. Employees alleged that Dr. Ellender created a hostile work environment through a pattern of verbal intimidation, demeaning language, discriminatory scheduling of work shifts, denial of professional-development opportunities, and issuance of retaliatory negative performance evaluations. These allegations implicate the Massachusetts Anti-Discrimination Law, M.G.L. c. 151B, § 4, and Title VI

3. Safety-Protocol Violations. Employees alleged that Dr. Ellender directed laboratory technicians to circumvent OSHA-mandated personal protective equipment requirements, specifically respiratory protection during aerosol-generating procedures, and that Dr. Ellender supervised laboratories in which biohazard-containment protocols were not consistently followed. These allegations implicate the Occupational Safety and

4. Falsification or Alteration of Records. Employees alleged that Dr. Ellender directed or personally undertook the alteration of laboratory-notebook entries to minimize the documented scope of a biohazard-containment breach, and that Dr. Ellender authored or approved safety-incident reports containing materially inaccurate narrative descriptions. These allegations implicate TMRI's institutional policies regarding re

III. FACTUAL BACKGROUND A. Thornwick Medical Research Institute Thornwick Medical Research Institute ("TMRI") is a Massachusetts nonprofit corporation organized under Section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code, Employer Identification Number 04-3781256. TMRI was founded in 2003 and is headquartered at 480 Kendall Avenue, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02142, in the heart of the Kendall Square biomedical research corrid

1. Dr. Yuna Sakata — Senior Research Scientist, Lab B-2. Dr. Sakata has been employed by TMRI since March 2019 and holds the position of Senior Research Scientist assigned to Laboratory Unit B-2. She holds a doctoral degree and has a strong research background in biosensor design and characterization. Dr. Sakata filed the first formal grievance on August 12, 2024. Her grievance alleged retaliation by Dr. Ellender fol

2. Trevor Hollins — Lab Technician III, Lab B-3. Trevor Hollins has been employed by TMRI since June 2020 and holds the position of Lab Technician III assigned to Laboratory Unit B-3. He filed the second formal grievance on August 19, 2024. His grievance alleged two categories of misconduct. First, Hollins alleged that Dr. Ellender created a hostile work environment through a pattern of verbal intimidation during wee

3. Dr. Priya Chandrasekaran — Postdoctoral Fellow, Lab B-1. Dr. Chandrasekaran has been employed by TMRI since September 2022 as a Postdoctoral Fellow assigned to Laboratory Unit B-1. She filed the third formal grievance on August 26, 2024. Her grievance alleged hostile work environment and discrimination, including: (i) discriminatory scheduling that required her to work disproportionate weekend and evening shifts c

4. Miguel Ferreira — Lab Technician II, Lab B-4. Miguel Ferreira has been employed by TMRI since January 2021 and holds the position of Lab Technician II assigned to Laboratory Unit B-4. He filed the fourth formal grievance on August 30, 2024. His grievance alleged two categories of misconduct. First, Ferreira alleged that Dr. Ellender directed Lab B-4 technicians, including Ferreira himself, to bypass OSHA-mandated

5. Sandra Nix — Research Associate, Lab B-2. Sandra Nix has been employed by TMRI since November 2020 and holds the position of Research Associate assigned to Laboratory Unit B-2. She filed the fifth and final formal grievance on September 4, 2024. Her grievance alleged that she witnessed Dr. Ellender instruct staff members to alter laboratory-notebook entries related to a September 14, 2023 biohazard-containment bre

IV. SUMMARY OF EVIDENCE This section summarizes the principal evidence gathered during the investigation, organized by type. The evidence is discussed in the context of the allegations and is cross-referenced to the analysis and findings set forth in Section V. A. Testimonial Evidence

1. Complainant Interviews C&H conducted individual interviews with each of the five complainants during the period from September 23 through October 11, 2024. Each interview was conducted at C&H's Boston office by Renata Vasquez and Nadia Petrov. All complainants received the Upjohn warning described in Section II.C at the outset of their respective interviews. The substance of each complainant's testimony is summari

2. Corroborating Witness Interviews C&H conducted interviews with eight corroborating witnesses during the week of October 14–18, 2024. These witnesses were identified through the complainant interviews, review of organizational charts and staffing records, and consultation with General Counsel Graff. The key corroborating-witness testimony is summarized below. Karen Ashby, Lab Technician IV, Lab B-4 (interviewed Oct