The Story of Dr Ilaria Capua

In 2006 Dr Ilaria Capua and her lab in Italy successfully isolated the African and Italian strains of H5N1 bird flu.  She was invited by World Health Organisation to deposit the sequence to the Influenza Sequence Database at Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico.  The database however was password protected with access limited to a small number of research groups.  Dr Capua declined the offer and deposited the sequence in the open GenBank database instead.  Dr Capua's letter to her colleagues was reprinted in Wall Street Journal.  Her story was also covered by New York Times and Washington Post. 

Dr Capua's letter:
http://on.wsj.com/1DJoZiu

Wall Street Journal article:
http://on.wsj.com/1DJnhO3

New York Times:
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/03/15/opinion/15wed4.html?_r=0 

Washington Post:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/politics/2006/05/25/bird-flu-fears-ignite-debate-on-scientists-sharing-of-data/caf5ce4e-c68e-44bd-bc07-6e423a58475a/

Dr Capua's speech at ERA Conference in 2012 recounting her story:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1Neu9Zv-zRs