Source: ResearchGate
A former Baylor College of Medicine researcher has been debarred from federal funding for two years after a review by the Office of Research Integrity found evidence of misconduct.
Liping Zhang, a former assistant professor in the school’s nephrology section, “engaged in research misconduct in research supported by U.S. Public Health Service (PHS) funds,” according to a notice scheduled for publication in the Federal Register on March 19.
ORI based its findings on a Baylor College of Medicine investigation as well as evidence gathered during its oversight review, the notice states. It continues:
ORI found by a preponderance of the evidence that Respondent intentionally and knowingly falsified and/or fabricated western blot images and microscopy images by manipulating the images, using unrelated images, or reusing and relabeling the same images to represent falsely different experimental results in three (3) PHS-supported unpublished manuscripts submitted for publication and four (4) grant applications submitted for PHS funds. ORI found that these acts constitute a significant departure from accepted practices of the relevant research community.
The review included a manuscript submitted to Cell Reports in 2015 and another submitted to EMBO Reports in 2017 and resubmitted in 2018. The work in those papers was supported by grants from the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive Kidney Diseases and the National Cancer Institute, though Zhang was not the principal investigator on any of them.
The grant applications in ORI’s review included two submitted to NIDDK and two submitted to the National Institute of Arthritis and Musculoskeletal and Skin Diseases. All but one of the applications were withdrawn.
ORI proposed a two-year debarment from federal funding as well as a two-year ban on serving “in any advisory capacity to PHS,” which includes serving on grant review committees. Zhang did not contest the proposed penalties, the notice states, so they went into effect on January 16.
In response to a request for more details on the case, an HHS spokesperson replied, “All the information on this case is in the Federal Register,” adding, “It is not unusual in ORI cases for the respondent to leave the institution and not respond.”
The notice is ORI’s first misconduct announcement this year. The office issued six misconduct findings last year and 10 in 2023. Firings and layoffs in the federal government appeared to affect the ORI staff earlier this year.
Zhang was employed by the Baylor College of Medicine from June 12, 2005, to Oct. 3, 2020, Lori Williams, vice president of communications & community outreach, confirmed. Williams did not provide any additional information on Baylor’s investigation, any ongoing inquiries, or Zhang’s current affiliation.
The EMBO Reports manuscript included in the investigation had been flagged in the editorial process and reported to both the authors and Baylor College of Medicine, EMBO Head of Scientific Publications Bernd Pulverer told us by email. He continued:
In this case, I can share that we were in touch with the authors and research institution (we detected image aberrations as part of our systematic screening pipeline in March 2018 and requested source data from the authors for further forensic analysis in April 2018, contacting the authors and also separately the research institution in May 2018). Since the issues we raised were not addressed to our satisfaction, we closed the file for this manuscript in September 2018.
The Journal of Nephrology & Therapeutics lists Zhang as an editorial board member. Her bio on the site says she got her Ph.D. from Zhejiang University of China in 1996, and did postdocs at Penn State, University of Kansas Medical Center, and University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston. Austin Diabetes Research also lists her on its editorial board.
Zhang was the lead author on a 2005 paper in Circulation Research retracted in February 2021 after “concerns were raised about duplication of internal loading controls of multiple Western blots,” the retraction notice reads.
This story was updated on March 19 to include comment from HHS and EMBO, and adds a link to a summary of the case that now appears on the ORI website.
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