Nature retracts highly cited 2002 paper that claimed adult stem cells could become any type of cell

Nature has retracted a 2002 paper from the lab of Catherine Verfaillie purporting to show a type of adult stem cell could, under certain circumstances, “contribute to most, if not all, somatic cell types.”  The retracted article, “Pluripotency of mesenchymal stem cells derived from adult marrow,” has been controversial since its publication. Still, it has … Continue reading Nature retracts highly cited 2002 paper that claimed adult stem cells could become any type of cell

Drug researchers retract two papers, one because “human stem cells were actually mouse stem cells”

A group of drug researchers has lost a pair of 2020 papers for a lack of reproducibility and other problems, including the unfortunate mislabeling of murine stem cells as having come from humans. (In case you’re wondering, mouse and human stem cells are at once quite similar and highly divergent.)   One article, “Divergent synthesis of … Continue reading Drug researchers retract two papers, one because “human stem cells were actually mouse stem cells”

Authors “in shock” when image reuse doesn’t fly with publishers of paper on emu oil and stem cells

A team of researchers in Iran has lost a 2018 paper on using emu oil to prepare stem cells because they tried to recycle previously published images. The journal told us that a whistleblower had raised concerns about the article, prompting an involved back-and-forth with the authors and even efforts at accommodation before the eventual … Continue reading Authors “in shock” when image reuse doesn’t fly with publishers of paper on emu oil and stem cells

Unexplained abnormalities in stem cells prompt Columbia researchers to pull diabetes paper

Researchers at Columbia University have retracted a 2013 paper in The Journal of Clinical Investigation, after uncovering abnormalities in the stem cell lines that undermined the conclusions in the paper. Last year, corresponding author Dieter Egli discovered he could not reproduce key data in the 2013 paper because almost all the cell lines first author Haiqing Hua used … Continue reading Unexplained abnormalities in stem cells prompt Columbia researchers to pull diabetes paper

Paper on natural ways to fight cancer stem cells nixed for plagiarism

Expert Opinion on Therapeutic Patents has retracted a 2015 review article about natural fighters of cancer stem cells for reproducing “content to a high degree of similarity without appropriate attribution or acknowledgement” from a handful of papers. Although the editor and publisher pulled the paper, they did so with the cooperation of the authors, according to … Continue reading Paper on natural ways to fight cancer stem cells nixed for plagiarism

PubPeer Selections: correction for Cell paper on stem cells; why omit controls; peer review report surfaces

Here’s another installment of PubPeer Selections:

PubPeer Selections: More questions about stem cells, price-shopping access charges

Here’s another installment of PubPeer Selections:

It’s not a tumor: Authors retract 2005 Cancer Research paper linking adult stem cells to cancer

The authors of a 2005 Cancer Research paper that cast some doubt on the safety of a population of adult stem cells used frequently in research have retracted it. According to the retraction, in the August 15 issue of the journal: Upon review of the data published in this article, the authors have been unable … Continue reading It’s not a tumor: Authors retract 2005 Cancer Research paper linking adult stem cells to cancer

University of Newcastle investigating top melanoma researchers

The University of Newcastle in Australia is investigating the work of two prominent skin cancer researchers, Retraction Watch has learned.  Commenters on PubPeer have posted questions about the data in 42 papers by Peter Hersey and Xu Dong Zhang, both well-known in Australian melanoma research. So far, two of the papers have been retracted and … Continue reading University of Newcastle investigating top melanoma researchers

Exclusive: One university’s three-year battle to retract papers with fake data

In 2021, the provost of the University of Maryland, Baltimore sounded the alarm about a troubling batch of papers from the lab of Richard Eckert, the former chair of the Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology at the institution.  The provost sent letters to the editors of seven journals calling out a string of serious … Continue reading Exclusive: One university’s three-year battle to retract papers with fake data