JCI retracts paper by stem cell biologist Jacob Hanna, citing “figure irregularities”

The Journal of Clinical Investigation has retracted a 2004 paper by Jacob Hanna, a highly cited stem cell researcher in Israel whose work has been dogged by questions about its validity. Questions about the work, and other articles on which Hanna was an author, were raised on PubPeer last November. This is his first retraction. … Continue reading JCI retracts paper by stem cell biologist Jacob Hanna, citing “figure irregularities”

Are retractions more frequent in stem cell research?

There are a number of fields that seem to punch above their weight on Retraction Watch: Anesthesiology, home to the world record holder (and runner-up), and psychology, home to Diederik Stapel and others. But the red-hot field of stem cell research is another that makes frequent appearances, last year’s STAP controversy being particularly prominent. There’s … Continue reading Are retractions more frequent in stem cell research?

Bad image prompts correction of Harvard-Brigham stem cell paper by Anversa

A group of Harvard stem cell researchers who already have one retraction and an expression of concern now have a correction. This one’s in Circulation Research, and it involves an image that previously had been flagged as suspicious in our comments. The group is led by Piero Anversa, who as we reported last year is … Continue reading Bad image prompts correction of Harvard-Brigham stem cell paper by Anversa

Fat cell paper earns unusually detailed retraction

A pair of cell biologists have taken responsibility for extensive figure errors that scuttled their paper in the Journal of Cell Biology. While there were five authors, first and last authors Eva Szabo and Michal Opas took responsibility in the notice. A number of figures “contain incorrect data and/or presentation errors,” and the original data isn’t available … Continue reading Fat cell paper earns unusually detailed retraction

Stem cell study retraction produces useless notice

We don’t have much to go on here, for a retraction from the International Journal of Stem Cells.  Here’s what we do know: Dental researchers at several universities in Egypt, including Cairo University, Future University, and Misr University published a paper together. According to the article, they gave dogs oral ulcers and then injected the ulcers … Continue reading Stem cell study retraction produces useless notice

Stem cell researchers sue Harvard, claiming faulty investigation lost them job offers

Piero Anversa, a stem cell researcher at the Brigham & Women’s Hospital, and a colleague, Annarosa Leri, have sued Harvard over an investigation into their work that they claim has cost them millions in a forfeited sale of their company, and job offers. The team has had a paper in Circulation retracted, and a paper in … Continue reading Stem cell researchers sue Harvard, claiming faulty investigation lost them job offers

Stem cell researcher Hanna “working…to correct the unfortunate and inadvertent mistakes” in papers

Jacob Hanna of Israel’s Weizmann Institute has been a media darling for years, including as a member of the 2010 Technology Review 30 under 35 for his work with stem cells. However, questions have been mounting about his research, both on PubPeer (which has critical comments for 15 papers he’s an author on) and in other stem cell labs, who have … Continue reading Stem cell researcher Hanna “working…to correct the unfortunate and inadvertent mistakes” in papers

Dentistry student loses travel grant for duplicating his own work

The International Association for Dental Research has retracted a student travel award after discovering that the recipient had previously published the work he used to secure the grant, including in an abstract he presented at the same conference last year. The self-plagiarism was uncovered by an anonymous group of students at the Hong Kong University … Continue reading Dentistry student loses travel grant for duplicating his own work