Hiroaki Serizawa, a Japanese researcher charged with industrial espionage involving the theft of genetic material on Alzheimer's Disease, on Friday asked for a postponement of his trial, which has been set for Nov. 5, due to a delay in the preparation of defense documents.
Serizawa's attorneys called for the postponement in a status hearing held by the federal district court in Akron, Ohio.
The court asked the attorneys to file a written request by early October. If the court accepts Serizawa's request, his trial is not expected to take place until next year.
Serizawa, an assistant professor of molecular biology at the University of Kansas, is one of two Japanese researchers indicted in May by federal prosecutors in Ohio on charges of stealing genetic materials developed by the federally funded Cleveland Clinic.
The other, Takashi Okamoto, resigned from his research position at Cleveland Clinic in July 1999. He was then employed by the government-funded Institute of Physical and Chemical Research in Japan but resigned in late July.