UC Geneticist Badly Hurt in Letter Bomb Attack

A renowned University of California geneticist whose research focuses on stroke-induced brain damage was seriously injured after opening a package bomb at his Marin County home, authorities said Wednesday.

Dr. Charles Epstein, 59, lost several fingers and suffered a broken arm and abdominal injuries when a large, padded envelope he received in Tuesday’s mail exploded, the FBI said.

Epstein, a professor of pediatrics at UC San Francisco, was listed in fair condition Wednesday at Marin General Hospital following five hours of surgery.

FBI spokesman Rick Smith said investigators have no suspects or motive. Early inquiries, he said, suggest that it is unlikely the crime is related to Epstein’s research.

“It appears he is engaged in a somewhat benign field of study,” Smith said. The FBI pointed out that Epstein uses mice in his laboratory, as opposed to primates, which often rouse the anger of animal rights extremists.

Those familiar with the scientist’s 30-year career agreed that his research is not unusually controversial.

“It’s very strange that someone would do that,” said Zevan Khachaturian, head of the National Institute on Aging. “His work (on mental retardation) is of great societal benefit.”

Epstein heads the division of medical genetics at UC San Francisco and has made important contributions to the understanding of Down’s syndrome and Alzheimer’s disease. His current research, which involves genetically engineered mice, has shed light on how certain chemicals contribute to brain damage after strokes.

The explosive-laden envelope arrived in Tuesday morning’s mail and was opened by Epstein that afternoon, the FBI said. The force of the explosion blew out windows and rocked neighboring homes in the affluent San Francisco suburb of Tiburon.

Dr. Larry Shapiro, chairman of the pediatrics department at UC San Francisco, said news of Epstein’s injuries left his colleagues shocked.

Epstein has won numerous awards for his genetics research and is editor of the American Journal of Human Genetics. Until 1991, he served on a board that approves genetics research conducted with government funding.

Times staff writer Thomas H. Maugh II contributed to this story.