Retraction appears for former Case Western dermatology researcher found by ORI to have falsified data

Bryan William Doreian, who was found by the Office of Research Integrity (ORI) to have falsified data in his Case Western dissertation, has retracted a 2009 paper in Molecular Biology of the Cell also cited by the ORI.

Here’s the notice:

The authors of “Cortical F-Actin, the Exocytic Mode, and Neuropeptide Release in Mouse Chromaffin Cells Is Regulated by Myristoylated Alanine-rich C-Kinase Substrate and Myosin II” (Mol Biol Cell [2009] 20, 3142–3154; doi:10.1091/mbc.E09-03-0197) wish to retract the paper.

The retraction arises from a finding by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Office of Research Integrity (2013) that author Bryan W. Doreian engaged in research misconduct by falsifying data in the paper, including:

1. Falsified the quantification of immunofluorescence for the ratio of phosphorylated to unphosphorylated MARCKS protein in response to different stimuli in Figure 2 by falsifying the sample number as n = 15.

2. Falsified the quantification of immunofluorescence for filamentous actin in response to different stimuli in Figure 3 by falsifying the sample number as n = 15.

3. Falsified the Pearson’s cross-correlation analysis in Figure 7, used to calculate the degree of spatial correlation between pan-chromogranin A/B (CgA/B) and the endosomal membrane, by stating that 20 or more cells had been tested for each condition when only 9–18 cells had been tested for each condition.

Bryan W. Doreian has voluntarily agreed to request that this paper be retracted. He states that he takes full responsibility for the falsifications. Corresponding author Corey B. Smith concurs with the decision to retract the paper.

The paper has been cited 15 times, according to Thomson Scientific’s Web of Knowledge.

Doreian is listed as president and managing director of Wysebridge, “the best way to study and prepare for the Patent Bar Exam.” His bio reads, in part:

some people say I am pretty good at data analysis and organization…