For years, rhesus macaques suffered in pain and misery in experimenter Geoff Ghose’s laboratory at the University of Minnesota. We exposed that he and his staff cut into monkeys’ scalps, drilled into their skulls, bolted metal headposts to their heads, and implanted recording chambers over openings in their skulls.
But now, after a cascade of animal welfare violations, federal scrutiny, and university disciplinary action, Ghose’s days of tormenting monkeys at the University of Minnesota are over. The school confirmed with PETA that he “no longer works with nonhuman primates,” a rare punishment in an industry in which cruelty and incompetence are the norm.
Ghose’s downfall was not caused by a single mistake—and it would not have happened without PETA’s involvement.
In April 2025, PETA met with local law enforcement officials and presented evidence of apparent animal welfare violations in University of Minnesota laboratories. It was only then that he was stripped of the privilege to run his own laboratory.
What Was Happening Inside Ghose’s Laboratory?
Ghose’s experiments involved surgically attaching metal devices to monkeys’ skulls to record their brain activity. According to university documents, those devices failed again and again.
A monkey named Bilbo suffered a string of complications after surgery. Screws went missing, a metal stabilizing ring detached and fell into his cage, and his headpost eventually had to be removed. Later, his recording chamber came off as well.
A monkey named Samwise suffered a severe implant failure when his headpost detached during an experiment, leaving an approximately two-thirds-inch opening in his skull and requiring emergency treatment. Days later, U.S. Department of Agriculture inspectors arrived unannounced. Ghose admitted to inspectors: “We don’t keep individual records for implant status.”
On May 22, 2026, the university’s Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee suspended Ghose’s animal protocols, citing findings from the U.S. Department of Agriculture inspection, Samwise’s implant failure, and “the overall history of surgical and compliance concerns from this laboratory.”
After Everything Investigators Found, Ghose Had One Question: “What the Hell?”
After the university suspended his animal protocols, Ghose didn’t respond with concern for the monkeys in his laboratory. Instead, he complained that he had been “blindsided.”
In an email, he demanded “a clear explanation immediately” and criticized university officials for shutting down his experiments without consulting him first.
The arrogant response can’t be squared with the facts. Monkeys suffered repeated cranial implant failures. Federal inspectors had documented problems with surgery, pain relief, monitoring, recordkeeping, and implant maintenance. And still, he cast himself as the victim.
One Laboratory Down—But Other Monkeys Still Need Your Help
Ghose’s monkey experiments are over, and that’s worth celebrating—but monkeys are still suffering in other University of Minnesota laboratories. Problems similar to those documented in Ghose’s lab have also surfaced in the laboratories of monkey experimenters Jan Zimmermann and Matt Johnson. The university took action when evidence mounted against Ghose. It should do the same for every laboratory where experimenters are tormenting animals.
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