Last August, we reported on an Expression of Concern in the American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine for a paper on HIV and lung injury. The notice said that the University of Nebraska, home to several of the paper’s authors, had begun an inquiry.
Today, the university issued a statement on the case, clearing the researchers of misconduct:
The University of Nebraska Medical Center conducted an internal investigation of issues raised by the American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine and found no evidence of research misconduct. The Department of Health and Human Services Office of Research Integrity (ORI) will review the findings as required by federal research misconduct regulations. We can provide an update when the ORI review is complete.
The university issued the statement in response to an inquiry from the Omaha World-Herald, which was first to report it this morning. It’s actually somewhat unusual, in our experience, to hear anything between the start of an investigation and the ORI’s final determination.
Sheila Wrobel, the university’s chief compliance officer, told Retraction Watch she couldn’t comment on the specific findings, nor what prompted the original inquiry, which the Expression of Concern said was “a result of an examination of the images.”
Hat tip: TheWriteScript
HIV-1 gp120 compromises blood–brain barrier integrity and enhance monocyte migration across blood–brain barrier: implication for viral neuropathogenesis
Georgette D Kanmogne,1,2 Kathy Schall,1,2 Jessica Leibhart,1,2 Bryan Knipe,1,2 Howard E Gendelman,1,2 and Yuri Persidsky
Figure 6 Actin strips seem to have been manipulated.
As does Figure 7c
I don’t have access to the images, but did read the comments posted here when the issue first came up. I put little faith in an investigation by any institution which has received the grant money for fraudulent research. How can its investigation be impartial? If Ivan and Adam have the time, posting the grant amounts for studies in question or researchers under investigation would give millions of reasons why this blog is important. Also, at public institutions, amounts paid to these researchers is public information.