U.S. attorney indicts ex-Gallo aide: AIDS scientist charged with conflict of interest. (Syed Zaki Salahuddin, National Cancer Institute Laboratory of Tumor Cell Biology, Dr. Robert Gallo)

U.S. Attorney indicts ex-Gallo aide

AIDS scientist charged with conflict of interest

A former top assistant to the United States' leading AIDS scientist was indicted last week on two felony charges.

Syed Zaki Salahuddin, 49, was charged by the U.S. Attorney's Office in Baltimore with one count of conflict of interest and one count of accepting an illegal gratuity. Each count carries a maximum penalty of two years in jail and a $250,000 fine.

The July 24 indictment was the result of two federal probes into allegations Salahuddin exploited his position at the National Cancer Institute in a scheme designed to enrich Pan Data Systems Inc., a Rockville biotechnology firm he and his wife helped found in 1984.

Salahuddin worked in the NCI's Laboratory of Tumor Cell Biology from September 1982 until his dismissal in April 1990 and was involved in several major discoveries relating to herpes and the AIDS virus. His immediate superior and close associate at the NCI was Dr. Robert Gallo, the controversial virologist considered by some to be the top AIDS …