'My past association...': Nobel winner Richard Axel who called Epstein extremely smart announces resignation from Columbia post

Dr Richard Axel, who jointly won the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 2004 along with Dr Linda B Buck announced his resignation from his current post at Columbia University over his past association with Jeffrey Epstein. Axel said he would continue his research but will no longer remain the co-director of Zuckerman Mind Brain Behavior Institute after the latest tranche of Epstein files reveal his close contact with Epstein over the years. Axel regretted his association with Epstein and said it was a "serious error of judgment", apologizing to his friends, students and colleagues. “What has emerged about Epstein’s appalling conduct, the harm that he has caused to so many people, makes my association with him all the more painful and inexcusable," Axel said. Columbia University said it found no evidence of Dr Axel violating any university policy or law but accepted his decision to resign. The university said they would continue funding members of the Axel lab to complete their ongoing research.In a 2007 New York Magazine article, Dr Axel called Epstein extremely smart and probing. Epstein had the ability to make connections that other minds can't make, Dr Axel said providing a peak inside Epstein's brain that he had short attention span as he coule grasp all the data that he needed in 15 minutes. The Epstein Files reveal that Dr Axel had regular correspondence with Epstein and he was invited to his private island. A 2011 flight tickets for Dr Axel and his wife to the island has also been found. Their connection continued even after Epstein pleaded guilty and until five months before Epstein's 2019 suicide in prison. Dr Axel is not the first Columbia name to be associated with Epstein. The College of Dental Medicine announced it had “taken action” against two Columbia officials who maintained relationships, solicited donations from Epstein and helped Karyna Shuliak, whom Epstein had previously referred to as his girlfriend, gain admission in 2012 after she was initially rejected earlier that year.