Former U Maryland researcher faked data in seven papers, two Federal grants: ORI

A former veterinary scientist at the University of Maryland has been found guilty of misconduct, including fabrication of data, by the U.S. Office of Research Integrity (ORI).

According to ORI: 

Dr. Shin-Hee Kim, University of Maryland: Based on an investigation conducted by UMD and additional analysis conducted by ORI in its oversight review, ORI found that Dr. Shin-Hee Kim, former Assistant Professor of Veterinary Medicine, UMD, engaged in research misconduct in research supported by PHS funds, specifically NIAID, NIH, grants R21 AI100195 and ZIA AI000938 and contract N01 AO60009.

ORI found that Respondent engaged in research misconduct by intentionally, knowingly, and/or recklessly falsifying and/or fabricating data by altering, reusing, and relabeling same source Western blot images, microscopy fields, and data of viral titers and mouse immune response from non-correlated experiments to represent the results of different viral strains in the following seven (7) published papers and two (2) grant applications submitted to NIAID, NIH…

We wrote about one of those retractions, from the Journal of Virology, in early March. But more on that in a minute. 

In addition to that paper, the articles flagged for retraction are: 

• Mutations in the fusion protein cleavage site of avian paramyxovirus serotype 4 confer increased replication and syncytium formation in vitro but not increased replication and pathogenicity in chickens and ducks. PLoS One 2013;8(1):e50598 

• Newcastle disease virus fusion protein is the major contributor to protective immunity of genotype-matched vaccine. PLoS One 2013;8(8):e74022 

• Role of C596 in the C-terminal extension of the haemagglutinin-neuraminidase protein in replication and pathogenicity of a highly virulent Indonesian strain of Newcastle disease virus. J Gen Virol 2014;95(Pt 2):331-6

• Modified Newcastle disease virus vectors expressing the H5 hemagglutinin induce enhanced protection against highly pathogenic H5N1 avian influenza virus in chickens. Vaccine 2014;32(35):4428-35

• Immunogenicity of Newcastle disease virus vectors expressing Norwalk virus capsid protein in the presence or absence of VP2 protein. Virology 2015;484:163-9

• LaSota fusion (F) cleavage motif-mediated fusion activity is affected by other regions of the F protein from different genotype Newcastle disease virus in a chimeric virus: Implication for virulence attenuation. J Gen Virol 2016;97(6):1297-1303

The seven papers have been cited just shy of 100 times, according to Clarivate Analytics’ Web of Science.

The two grant applications were: 

• R01 AI118879-01, “Avian paramyxovirus vectored vaccines for Norovirus infection,” submitted to NIAID, NIH, on October 3, 2014.
• R01 AI118879-01A1, “Avian paramyxovirus vectored vaccines for Norovirus infection,” submitted to NIAID, NIH, on November 5, 2015.

Among Kim’s transgressions, ORI said, were: 

• the microscope field that was used for Figure 1B in J Gen Virol. 2016, representing the cytopathic effect of rBC/Las-Fc-AKO-F virus infection without allantoic fluid in DF1 cells, also was used in a PowerPoint presentation on Respondent’s laptop to represent the cytopathic effect of rBan 010 Las Fc virus and rBan 010 Las Fc/D403N virus
• the two images that were used for Figure 2B in Virology 2015, representing rLaSota-NV (the middle one) and rBCm-NV (the right one) expressed VLP in allantoic fluid of chicken eggs, were fabricated by splitting a microscopy field into two parts
• data of viral titers and mouse immune responses to viral immunization presented in five (5) figures of one (1) published paper by altering, reusing, and relabeling data from non-correlated experiments or by fabricating data that did not exist.

Kim agreed to three years’ supervision on any federally-funded research.

Now, about that paper in the Journal of Virology. One of Kim’s co-authors on the article was Siba Samal, another virologist at U. Maryland, who had four articles retracted for problematic images at the time of our last writing. 

Kim’s name doesn’t appear on the other three papers by Samal to have been retracted so far — but they do share a byline on all of the seven papers the ORI flagged. 

Another co-author in common was Peter Collins, of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, part of the National Institutes of Health, which funded some of the work. We asked Collins to help us make sense of the overlapping cases, but he did not respond to a request for comment. Nor has the University of Maryland’s office of communications.

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