A researcher lost his legal battle with Washington University in St. Louis over the ownership of thousands of cancer tissue samples he had collected while working there. The US Supreme Court this week let stand lower court rulings that awarded ownership of the samples to the university, the Chronicle of Higher Education reports.

William Catalona, who developed the PSA test for prostate cancer, had tried to remove the samples from Washington University. But Washington University refused, saying they and not Catalona, now at Northwestern University, owned the samples.

The university sued Catalona for ownership of the samples. He appealed two federal court rulings against him, but on Tuesday (January 22), the Supreme Court declined to hear the case.