A once-prominent stem cell biologist, who recently lost both her job and a sizable grant, has lost her fifth paper.
Recently, Molecular and Cellular Biology retracted a 2003 paper by Susana Gonzalez. Last February, the National Center for Cardiovascular Research (CNIC) in Spain dismissed her from her position over allegations of misconduct. The reason: suspicions of data manipulation.
As with a previous retraction, the journal said Gonzalez “could not be reached for approval of this retraction.”
Here’s the full notice:
After publication, this article was found to have problematic figures. Digital experts have informed us that some of the published data in this paper were very likely digitally manipulated. This represents a major deviation from established scientific standards for publications, and therefore we retract this paper. We apologize for these errors.
The 2003 paper “p73α Regulation by Chk1 in Response to DNA Damage” has been cited 61 times, according to Clarivate Analytics’ Web of Science. It has been discussed extensively on PubPeer.
We’ve contacted the publisher, the American Society for Microbiology, to find out if this retraction stems from the journal’s initiative to re-examine its image archives, as reported by The Scientist.
Gonzalez has appealed her dismissal from the CNIC. It’s not the only setback she’s faced: One of her grants (totaling nearly 2 million Euros) was also suspended. Earlier this year, Nature Communications retracted two of her papers, citing figure duplications and missing raw data. Cell Cycle has also retracted a 2012 paper she co-authored. In July, Nature retracted a 2006 letter she co-authored which had been cited 133 times.
Hat tip: Kerry Grens
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One of the two people to requested the retraction as senior and corresponding author.
Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2001 Jan 30;98(3):1036-41. Epub 2001 Jan 23.
p53 accumulates but is functionally impaired when DNA synthesis is blocked.
Gottifredi V1, Shieh S, Taya Y, Prives C.
Author information
1
Department of Biological Sciences, Columbia University, New York, NY 10027, USA.
https://pubpeer.com/publications/7F42D5F4ECE5608EB1C50352C90994
Figure 2A. https://imgur.com/Egtbkrj
Figure 3C. https://imgur.com/WhDoSnT
Correction: that should be authorized the retraction.
Cancer Res still has this one on its books.
http://cancerres.aacrjournals.org/content/65/6/2186.long
Cancer Res. 2005 Mar 15;65(6):2186-92.
Susana Gonzalez, Manuel M. Perez-Perez, Eva Hernando, Manuel Serrano and Carlos Cordon-Cardo
p73beta-Mediated apoptosis requires p57kip2 induction and IEX-1 inhibition.
Author information
Department of Pathology, Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, New York, NY, USA. [email protected]
https://pubpeer.com/publications/ABB7746FD5493450293B8B1F2BBA61
Cancer Res. 2005 Mar 15;65(6):2186-92.
Susana Gonzalez, Manuel M. Perez-Perez, Eva Hernando, Manuel Serrano and Carlos Cordon-Cardo
p73beta-Mediated apoptosis requires p57kip2 induction and IEX-1 inhibition.
Fresh problematic data. This time in figure 3B.
Much more similar after horizontal flip than expected.
See: https://imgur.com/sGwj2Qa
Same senior author same year.
Am J Pathol. 2003 Feb;162(2):609-17.
Tumor suppressor role of KiSS-1 in bladder cancer: loss of KiSS-1 expression is associated with bladder cancer progression and clinical outcome.
Sanchez-Carbayo M1, Capodieci P, Cordon-Cardo C.
Author information
1
Division of Molecular Pathology, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, New York, New York 10021, USA.
https://pubpeer.com/publications/62C45AEB8AB8B19E953E93125D491E
Senior author as penultimate author.
Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2007 Oct 16;104(42):16633-8. Epub 2007 Oct 5.
Declining p53 function in the aging process: a possible mechanism for the increased tumor incidence in older populations.
Feng Z1, Hu W, Teresky AK, Hernando E, Cordon-Cardo C, Levine AJ.
Author information
1
Cancer Institute of New Jersey, University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey, New Brunswick, NJ 08903, USA.
https://pubpeer.com/publications/D927999EB49E5C74BD2BFA1861F7AF
News Paper “El Pais”, Spain, picking up on the retraction.
https://elpais.com/elpais/2017/09/19/ciencia/1505846722_410554.html
“El mayor escándalo de la ciencia española se vuelve mundial”
Senior author of retraction as penultimate author.
Oncogene. 2003 Aug 14;22(34):5298-305.
Tumor suppressor role for myopodin in bladder cancer: loss of nuclear expression of myopodin is cell-cycle dependent and predicts clinical outcome.
Sanchez-Carbayo M1, Schwarz K, Charytonowicz E, Cordon-Cardo C, Mundel P.
Author information
1
Division of Molecular Pathology, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, 1275 York Avenue, NY 10021, USA.
Figure 3b. Myopodin panel. Lanes 4 and 5 much more similar than you might expect to horiztonally stretched versions of lanes 2 and 3.