Search Results for: potti

Why did Science partially retract the XMRV-chronic fatigue syndrome paper?

If past experience is any indication, billions of pixels will be spilled in the coming days as scientists and advocates debate the latest twist in the story of XMRV, or xenotropic murine leukemia-related virus, and chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS). Today’s news is that Science is partially retracting a 2009 paper by Judy Mikovits and colleagues, including … Continue reading Why did Science partially retract the XMRV-chronic fatigue syndrome paper?

Imperial, where Jatinder Ahluwalia earned his PhD, has re-run experiments, and is now reviewing results

If you’ve been wondering what’s happening in the case of Jatinder Ahluwalia, the University of East London researcher who has been found guilty of faking data as a graduate student at Cambridge and of misconduct at University College London, so have we. We last reported, in February, that Imperial College London, where Ahluwalia earned his … Continue reading Imperial, where Jatinder Ahluwalia earned his PhD, has re-run experiments, and is now reviewing results

Four genetics papers retracted for duplication

Petter Portin, of the University of Turku, Finland, has been forced to retract four papers because they were duplicates of work he had already published. Two of those retractions appear in the February 2011 issue of Hereditas. Here’s one retraction notice (link added): The following article from Hereditas: Portin, P. ‘The effect of the mus309 … Continue reading Four genetics papers retracted for duplication

*Grad student’s misdeeds may cost prof Carsten Carlberg a job

In November, we reported on two retractions in Cell and the Journal of Molecular Biology involving misconduct in the lab of biochemist Carsten Carlberg, of the University of Eastern Finland, in Kuopio. Carlberg also holds an appointment in computational biology at the University of Luxembourg, which last year launched an investigation — at his behest, … Continue reading *Grad student’s misdeeds may cost prof Carsten Carlberg a job

Roundup: A new record? And paper retracts story about Canadian Paxil researcher-turned pol Kutcher

We’ve both been at conferences — Adam at the Society of Cardiovascular Anesthesiologists in Savannah, and Ivan at the Council of Science Editors in Baltimore, where he’ll be on a panel today about finding fraud — so we haven’t had a lot of time to run down retractions. But there were a few retraction-related developments … Continue reading Roundup: A new record? And paper retracts story about Canadian Paxil researcher-turned pol Kutcher

University of Sao Paulo fires professor after a retraction for plagiarism

February has turned out to be a bad month for people found guilty of plagiarism. On Friday, we covered the case of the German foreign defense minister who lost his PhD after his university became aware he had copied passages from newspaper stories into his thesis. And now we’ve learned that the University of Sao … Continue reading University of Sao Paulo fires professor after a retraction for plagiarism

Salon retracts 2005 Robert F. Kennedy Jr. piece on alleged autism-vaccine link

Salon today retracted a controversial 2005 story by Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. about an alleged link between autism and thimerosal, the mercury-based preservative formerly used in vaccines. As Salon explains in their retraction notice, the online magazine had co-published the piece with Rolling Stone. The notice reads, in part:

Catch Me If You Can: What happens to fake cardiologist William Hamman’s published papers?

It’s a mind-boggling story: A United Airlines pilot claims to be a cardiologist and was eagerly sought after for medical conferences at which he taught doctors teamwork. He shared millions in grants, according to the Associated Press. But as the AP reports, William Hamman wasn’t a cardiologist at all, having never even finished medical school. … Continue reading Catch Me If You Can: What happens to fake cardiologist William Hamman’s published papers?

Why write a blog about retractions?

Post by Ivan Oransky and Adam Marcus The unfolding drama of Anil Potti — a Duke researcher who posed as a Rhodes Scholar and appears to have invented key statistical analyses in a study of how breast cancer responds to chemotherapy — has sent ripples of angst through the cancer community. Potti’s antics prompted editors … Continue reading Why write a blog about retractions?