![\"Ben](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/aad7d5d909c31936d11bfb1d456b19eadf5d28d2.jpeg\")
Ben Gu, formerly of the Florey Institute.Jason South<\/p>\nIn May, Dr Ben Gu finally snapped. Gu is a neuroscientist, studying how the brain clears the plaques and tangles that build up over our lifetime \u2013 and how that process fails in people who develop Alzheimer\u2019s.<\/p>\n
For 13 years, his lab at the venerable Florey Institute of Neuroscience and Mental Health worked towards tests and treatments for the disease. A urine-based test for Alzheimer\u2019s risk based on his work is now approved for sale in 14 countries.<\/p>\n
Gu was proud to work alongside other researchers on the cutting edge of brain discovery. That was, until mid-2023, when his commercial contract with the Florey expired.<\/p>\n
Ben Gu, formerly of the Florey Institute.Jason South<\/p>\n
\u201cThey used this excuse to say, \u2018Your contract is over, so your time in the Florey is over,\u2019\u201d he said this week.<\/p>\n
Gu is not the only senior scientist to leave the institute in unhappy circumstances recently. Colin Masters, tipped as a potential Nobel laureate for his work on Alzheimer\u2019s disease, has departed following an integrity investigation into two colleagues.<\/p>\n
Bradley Turner, one of the world\u2019s top motor neurone disease scientists, who leads research into Neale Daniher\u2019s donated stem cells<\/a>, had taken legal action against the institute and then resigned. Turner had been on extended leave from the institute.<\/p>\n Gu simmered for three years over his dismissal \u2013 and, he says, lost royalties from patents the Florey has refused to pay him. He repeatedly wrote to management, but never heard back.<\/p>\n So in May, he typed out an email to each member of the Florey board.<\/p>\n \u201cI tried my best to bring resources into the Florey, but my loyalty was not appreciated at all,\u201d he wrote. \u201cIt is a pity. In the end, I was persecuted by the Florey and ruthlessly exiled.\u201d<\/p>\n He described his treatment by the Florey as \u201chumiliating\u201d and \u201carrogant \u2026 with no respect at all\u201d. \u201cI do not think it reflects well \u2026 to treat previous staff like garbage,\u201d he wrote.<\/p>\n \u201cI am not the enemy of the Florey. But if the Florey wants to make me an enemy, then I can be.\u201d<\/p>\n In September, Gu filed a Federal Court lawsuit making a fair work claim against the Florey, alleging in an affidavit, provided to this masthead, years of underpayment, a botched commercial agreement, and a failure to pay royalties on his patents.<\/p>\n In the court documents, Gu also references his email as proof, he claims, of attempts he made to settle matters.<\/p>\n An investigation by this masthead can reveal Gu is not the only unhappy senior staff member to have left the 66-year-old and widely lauded institution as it grapples with a sector-wide funding squeeze.<\/p>\n Editor’s pick The institute has had to cope with a major research integrity investigation that led to the departure of its star researcher, Colin Masters \u2013 who was for a time banned from setting foot at the institute\u2019s Parkville headquarters. Masters declined to comment.<\/p>\n In July last year, the Florey employed 43 \u201cgroup heads\u201d, or heads of laboratories, reporting in to five top \u201cresearch priority area\u201d heads.<\/p>\n Six of those group heads have now left the Florey, and one of its top research priority area heads has resigned.<\/p>\n \u201cIt wasn\u2019t an exodus. This is a deliberate decapitation. They sacked all these people for spurious reasons,\u201d said a former researcher.<\/p>\n This masthead spoke to five current and 17 former employees of the Florey, who described a workplace that has turned \u201ctoxic\u201d as the institute has struggled financially.<\/p>\n \u201cThe Florey has gone down a pathway that is Darwinian. It\u2019s survival of the fittest,\u201d said a current researcher. \u201cAs a workforce, we are on our own. There is a culture of paranoia.\u201d<\/p>\n Another current researcher said they spent as little time as possible in the Florey\u2019s Melbourne headquarters.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s just such a horrible atmosphere,\u201d they said. \u201cIt\u2019s awful, it\u2019s just awful. What\u2019s the end game? You\u2019re going to [financially] save the institution \u2013 but you\u2019ll end up destroying it.\u201d<\/p>\n The institute has run multimillion-dollar deficits since 2022. Commercial revenues \u2013 crucial to the Florey\u2019s business model \u2013 have nearly halved since 2022.<\/p>\n Other research institutes are in a similar financial state \u2013 or worse. The sector\u2019s peak body estimates 10 of Victoria\u2019s 14 will be forced to close by 2030. The Hudson Institute was the first domino to fall, announcing in September plans to merge with Monash University. <\/a><\/p>\n \u201cThe business model is doomed,\u201d said a source with direct knowledge of the Florey\u2019s finances. \u201cThe only way forward is to re-merge with the University of Melbourne.\u201d<\/p>\n The institute strenuously denies it has financial or cultural problems.<\/p>\n \u201cThe Florey is deeply disappointed by these baseless claims,\u201d said a spokesman for the Florey. \u201cThe Florey remains in a financially sustainable position, despite a challenging funding climate for all medical research institutes across Australia.\u201d<\/p>\n Still, Ben Gu is deeply concerned about the institute\u2019s future.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s not just me. A long list of names of intelligent researchers, who are so loyal to the Florey, have been expelled,\u201d says Gu. \u201cThey are all gone. It used to be a good institute. Someone needs to save the Florey.\u201d<\/p>\n \u2018A deliberate decapitation\u2019<\/p>\n The Florey is one of Melbourne\u2019s great blue-blooded institutions. Established in 1960, it was underwritten by Melbourne\u2019s famous families<\/a>: the Myers, the Potters, as well as the Rockefeller Foundation; a Rothschild sat on the first board. Howard Florey, who won a Nobel Prize for work on penicillin, lent it his name.<\/p>\n It is the dramatic exit of a scientist widely spoken about as a potential future Nobel laureate that is one focus of concern within and outside the Florey.<\/p>\n For the past 14 years, the Florey housed the lab of Professor Colin Masters, one of the world\u2019s most consequential dementia researchers.<\/p>\n \u201cColin is the closest Australia has to a future Nobel Prize winner,\u201d says a former researcher. One source with direct knowledge of his work estimates he has brought in about $90 million in taxpayer and commercial funding to the institute.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n Masters, a laureate professor and distinguished Florey fellow, resigned from the organisation last September, this masthead can reveal.<\/p>\n \u201cColin Masters was thrown out,\u201d said a source who had worked with Masters. \u201cIt\u2019s an awful way for a man that has done so much to end.\u201d<\/p>\n Masters, who is now based at the University of WA, declined to comment. The Florey denied ever pushing out researchers.<\/p>\n This masthead can reveal his departure was triggered by a research integrity investigation into his co-workers \u2013 which is now the subject of a federal review. Masters\u2019 research is not under question, and no concerns have been raised about his work.<\/p>\n \u201cWe didn\u2019t know what happened. But all of a sudden, overnight, he was banned from coming into the building,\u201d said a former researcher. \u201cHe had to get all of his things out of the office. It was a very dramatic exit. Colin was one of the superstars of the Florey.\u201d<\/p>\n The Florey said it \u201cdoes not comment publicly on confidential arrangements concerning an individual. Any decisions about access to Florey premises are made in accordance with applicable policies.\u201d<\/p>\n The institute\u2019s second-highest-profile scientist is Professor Bradley Turner, who leads one of the largest motor neurone disease patient stem cell banks in the world \u2013 founded with cells from football legend Neale Daniher, and funded by the charity he set up to fight the disease.<\/p>\n Using the banked cells, Turner was able to announce in November\u2019s edition of Nature Neuroscience a promising new treatment for MND.<\/a><\/p>\n<\/p>\n \u201cHe is arguably the biggest motor neurone disease researcher in at least the southern hemisphere,\u201d said a former researcher. A current researcher described him as a \u201cworldwide name\u201d.<\/p>\n The Florey initially told this masthead Turner was on extended personal leave.<\/p>\n But this masthead has obtained an internal email revealing Turner had been on leave since March \u201cdue to illness\u201d and other reasons.<\/p>\n Turner was head of one of the Florey\u2019s five Research Priority Missions, with nine group heads reporting to him.<\/p>\n In July, the Fair Work Commission listed a hearing between Turner and the institute to deal with an unspecified \u201cdispute\u201d.<\/p>\n The Florey declined to comment on the specifics of Masters\u2019 or Turner\u2019s cases.<\/p>\n Turner did not return multiple requests for comment.<\/p>\n The loss of lab heads has meant PhD students have been shuffled from team to team \u2013 at a time when, two sources familiar with the program said, the Florey made its two student support positions redundant.<\/p>\n The institute had also cut funding to its student association, said a person with direct knowledge of the cuts.<\/p>\n \u201cThe students are not getting the pastoral care and scientific guidance they should,\u201d said a senior Florey researcher.<\/p>\n The Florey spokeswoman denied the association had had its funding cut. \u201cStudent support is now provided by a wider team into which all student support staff were redeployed.\u201d<\/p>\n And one current staff member said the Florey did a great job supporting students. \u201cFrom what I\u2019ve seen, I don\u2019t think the Florey as an institution has done anything to treat students poorly,\u201d they said. \u201cThere is also a generous budget available for student group activities.\u201d<\/p>\n Financial struggles<\/p>\n The Florey, like many medical research institutes, is in a perilous financial position.<\/p>\n Under the header \u201cfinancial difficulties\u201d, a confidential presentation to staff in February last year, obtained by this masthead, noted the institute had posted a $4.5 million shortfall in 2024 and was expecting another one in 2025 \u201cand beyond\u201d. The presentation announced several job cuts.<\/p>\n The presentation noted \u201climited grant success in 2024 funding round, below expectations\u201d.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n \u201cWe were told if they did not do the changes they would be closed within two to three years,\u201d said a former staff member.<\/p>\n Taxpayer-funded research grants do not cover the full cost of doing research. The Florey aims to cover the gap with commercial activities and donations. But commercial income halved from $22 million in 2022 to just $11 million last year.<\/p>\n The institute acknowledged there had been a 13 per cent reduction in full-time equivalent staff between 2022 and 2025. Despite those cuts, employee expenses increased in 2025.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n A spokesman for the Florey told this masthead the institute was not insolvent, but without the firm action management had taken \u201cwe were heading that way\u201d.<\/p>\n \u201cThere is absolutely no secret Victorian medical research institutes are on the brink. That\u2019s very clear,\u201d he said. \u201cOur sector is in a financial crisis.\u201d<\/p>\n The Florey points to a $1.4 million surplus (before depreciation and amortisation) in 2025 as evidence of financial strength. \u201cWe\u2019ve turned the corner,\u201d the spokesman said. \u201cBut the ambient environment is still tough, so we are absolutely not complacent.\u201d<\/p>\n Problems with IP<\/p>\n To deal with the difficult financial environment, multiple former staff said the Florey had pivoted towards a commercialisation strategy.<\/p>\n A road that executives hoped would lead to financial stability has turned to quicksand.<\/p>\n![\"The](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/952c745d905f20e6168e087f4880006098a86f97.jpeg\")
<\/a><\/p>\n![\"Nobel](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/0b8d49928be460add5700c99fb4b37ac5154edb8.jpeg\")
Nobel laureate Howard Florey lent his name to the institute.<\/p>\n![\"Professor](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/ebc66b6370e38f6d658b153c380571a6cd64425f.jpeg\")
Professor Colin Masters, pictured in 2016 when he received an Order of Australia for his research into Alzheimer\u2019s disease. Penny Stephens<\/p>\n