and two chief physicians involved in the study stated that medical ethics principles prevented them from turning over sensitive personal and medical data as the participants' parents had been promised confidentiality in writing before giving informed consent on behalf of their children. However, the court ruled that all files related to the study were to be released under the Principle of Public Access. Rather than breaking their promises of confidentiality to the participants, the two chief physicians, along with a university administrator, shredded the sensitive files of the study. The following year, Gillberg, as head of the university's Neuropsychiatric Department, and the University Vice-Chancellor were convicted and fined for "breach of duty" in their capacity as public officials at a government institution that had failed to release the documents in accordance with the court order. Autism research In the early 1980s, the concept of an 'autism spectrum' was introduced by Lorna Wing and Gillberg. Gillberg has done extensive research into autism throughout his academic career. In 2003, a French and Swedish research team at the Institut Pasteur and the psychiatric departments at Gothenburg University and University of Paris, led by Thomas Bourgeron, Marion Leboyer and Gillberg, discovered the first precisely identified genetic mutations in individuals with autism. The team identified mutations altering two genes on the X chromosome which seem to be implicated in the formation of synapses (communication spaces between neurons), in two families where several members are affected. Previous studies, such as the Paris Autism Research International Sib-Pair Study (PARIS), coordinated by Gillberg and Marion Leboyer, have more generally associated the X-chromosome regions with autism. The 2003 breakthrough indicated the location of the mutation to be on the NLGN4 gene and the NGLN3 gene. The mutation prevents a complete protein from forming and is inherited from the mother. Since 2006, Gillberg is involved in a large cross-disciplinary project titled "Autism spectrum conditions: the Gothenburg collaborative studies", financed by the Swedish Research Council (Vetenskapsrådet), expected to run until the end of 2009. The project is a collaboration between scientists specialized in child and youth psychiatry, molecular biology and neuroscience and involves a genetic part with an international study team of French, British and U.S. researchers examining various aspects autism. Some of the results were published during 2007. The project also includes a genetic study on the Faroe Islands. Gillberg's criteria for Asperger syndrome In 1989, Gillberg became instrumental in