Exclusive: University of Glasgow seeking retraction of multiple papers after findings of image manipulation

The University of Glasgow is requesting the retraction of multiple papers by a pharmacology researcher who held various positions there for more than a quarter century.

The story begins in December 2016, when biostatistician Steven McKinney posted on PubPeer about a paper by the researcher, Miles Houslay, in the Journal of Biological Chemistry. That paper was eventually retracted in August 2020, but not before McKinney posted a comment on Retraction Watch that caught the eye of the pseudonymous Clare Francis.

Francis pointed us to comments about a total of eight of Houslay’s papers at that time. And in August 2020, when the JBC retraction appeared, Francis forwarded those to the King’s College, London, where Houslay is listed as having a faculty position, and the University of Glasgow, which he left in 2011.

Yesterday, Amanda McKenna, the University of Glasgow’s research policy and integrity officer, thanked Francis for bringing the issues to the university’s attention, and wrote:

The investigating panel has upheld the allegations and we are seeking retraction of all papers involved.

It is unclear which papers the university will seek to have retracted — we have asked McKenna but it was already late in the day in Scotland, so have not heard back — but here are the papers that come up in the PubPeer search whose link Francis sent the university last year:

• “Scanning peptide array analyses identify overlapping binding sites for the signalling scaffold proteins, beta-arrestin and RACK1, in cAMP-specific phosphodiesterase PDE4D5,” published in Biochemical Journal and cited 119 times, according to Clarivate Analytics’ Web of Science (PubPeer link) 
• “Integrating cardiac PIP3 and cAMP signaling through a PKA anchoring function of p110γ,” published in Molecular Cell and cited 134 times (PubPeer link)
• “Cross talk between phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase and cyclic AMP (cAMP)-protein kinase a signaling pathways at the level of a protein kinase B/beta-arrestin/cAMP phosphodiesterase 4 complex,” published in Molecular and Cellular Biology and cited 51 times (PubPeer link)
• “Phosphodiesterase-4 influences the PKA phosphorylation status and membrane translocation of G-protein receptor kinase 2 (GRK2) in HEK-293beta2 cells and cardiac myocytes,” published in Biochemical Journal and cited 32 times (PubPeer link)
• “RNA silencing identifies PDE4D5 as the functionally relevant cAMP phosphodiesterase interacting with beta arrestin to control the protein kinase A/AKAP79-mediated switching of the beta2-adrenergic receptor to activation of ERK in HEK293B2 cells,” published in the Journal of Biological Chemistry and cited 165 times (PubPeer link)
• “beta-Arrestin-mediated PDE4 cAMP phosphodiesterase recruitment regulates beta-adrenoceptor switching from Gs to Gi,” published in PNAS and cited 279 times (PubPeer link)

Houslay, who is listed as Principal Scientific Advisor and Chair of the Scientific Advisory Board of Mironid, a biotech company, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

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