FFVII Question [Contains Spoilers]

[Ouch!]

I just have a simple question that needs answering for a fan fiction I'm writing. Is Gast still working with Hojo when they inject the JENOVA cells into Lucrecia? I was under the impression that he left after that experiment, but I just want to make sure.

[Big D]

Once Gast learned that Jenova wasn't an Ancient, and rather a demonic threat from the past, he got out and tried to persuade Shinra to stop. Hojo, though, wanted to press on. I'm guessing that Gast was around when Sephiroth was conceived, though, even if that particular experiment wasn't his idea.
Sephiroth spoke highly of Gast several times, almost like Gast was a departed "father figure" for him.

[Lehteb]

Gast was around for a few years after Sephiroth was born, but left probably 23-27 years before the beginning of the game, as he was killed just after Aeris was born, and she was 22 years old in the game. Hojo had obviously been looking for him for awhile before he killed Gast, and his lab looked pretty high-tech, and not jsut thrown together in a week or month. I think he left Shinra when Sephiroth was 5 or 6.

[Ouch!]

Alright. On my replay of the game for what seems like the hundreth time it says Lucrecia was Gast's assistant, I just was wondering if that was before, after or during the JENOVA Project. It would seem that it was all three. Thank you.