Levon Khachigian

Professor Levon Michael Khachigian (born 6 March 1964 in Beirut, Lebanon) is an Australian medical scientist notable for work in vascular cell and molecular biology, cardiovascular pathology, and cancer pathology. He is the inventor of the experimental drug DZ13, which can allegedly treat skin cancer without skin cancer without surgery, eye diseases, and asthma. Trials of DZ13 were "suspended by UNSW in July 2013 due to concerns regarding aspects of the science underpinning DZ13. The trial had yet to commence patient recruitment."

Early life and education
Born in Beirut, Lebanon to Armenian parents who were evangelical Protestant missionaries, Khachigian was raised in Naremburn, New South Wales, Australia and attended Naremburn Public School and Crows Nest Boys' High School.

Khachigian earned a B.Sc. with First-Class Honours, a Ph.D., and a D.Sc. from the University of New South Wales.

Career
The Khachigian research group developed Dz13, a molecule that targets the master regulator c-Jun, which is implicated in numerous diseases. This development was published in The Lancet.

Khachigian himself has served as a President of the Australian Society for Medical Research and of the Australian Vascular Biology Society. He has also been a member of the Editorial Boards of 12 journals, including American Journal of Pathology and Endothelium. Khachigian has been awarded an Australia Fellowship by the National Health and Medical Research Council, a Commonwealth Health Minister's Award for Excellence in Health and Medical Research, a GSK Australia Award for Research Excellence, a Gottschalk Award from the Australian Academy of Science, a Eureka Prize for Scientific Research, and a Eureka Prize for Medical Research.

Honours
In 2003, Khachigian was awarded the Eureka Prize.

2009
In 2009, Khachigian's lab retracted four papers after Professor David Vaux, from the Walter and Eliza Hall Institute, raised concerns that they contained images Vaux "believed were untrustworthy". An independent investigation found no evidence of misconduct.

A former scientist in Khachigian's research group and whistleblower, Dr. Ying Morgan, raised concerns with the University about the Khachigian research group. The University appointed an independent panel to investigate these concerns and "there were no findings of research misconduct."

2013
In July 2013, a DZ13 trial was suspended. The University of New South Wales has officially released a statement. It claims that the more recent allegations of scientific misconduct are novel; at each of Khachigian's clinical trial, Kachigian's work has been approved by ethics committees; and, at each stage, funding bodies have been advised as necessary.

Furthermore, Khachigian, via lawyers at W.G. McNally Jones Staff of 179 Elizabeth Street, Sydney, released a statement and reply to questions posed to him. In it, he asserted that, as the matter was under investigation, he could not comment; however, Khachigian maintained that the data is as is and not manipulated and that the allegations were unsubstantiated.

Personal life
Khachigian plays the violin.