Macchiarini blames Karolinska for losing data as he retracts 2014 paper

Ask and ye shall receive: A journal has retracted a 2014 paper by Paolo Macchiarini, upon request from the Karolinska Institutet (KI). The latest news is only one step in a long-running saga about former star surgeon Macchiarini, who was dismissed from KI last year. To read more, check out our timeline. KI announced it was … Continue reading Macchiarini blames Karolinska for losing data as he retracts 2014 paper

Karolinska requests retraction of 2014 Macchiarini paper

It has been a tough couple of years for surgeon Paolo Macchiarini, once lauded for pioneering a groundbreaking procedure to transplant tracheas. After a series of documentaries prompted his former employer, Karolinska Institutet (KI), to reopen a misconduct investigation against him, KI has today released one verdict regarding a 2014 Nature Communications paper: guilty. KI said … Continue reading Karolinska requests retraction of 2014 Macchiarini paper

Macchiarini paper in Nature journal earns expression of concern for data questions

Nature Communications has issued an expression of concern for a 2014 paper by beleaguered surgeon Paolo Macchiarini, citing concerns over whether the paper accurately reports the experiments that were carried out. According to the notice, Macchiarini, a former rising star in the field of transplant medicine, agrees with the expression of concern. Three of his 22 … Continue reading Macchiarini paper in Nature journal earns expression of concern for data questions

Meet the filmmakers who cracked open the case against star surgeon Macchiarini

Paolo Macchiarini — once a world-renowned surgeon for creating tracheas from cadavers and patients’ own stem cells – has been dogged for years by accusations of misconduct. Officials at his institution, Karolinska Institute, initially cleared him of many charges, but that all changed earlier this year, when Swedish Television (SVT) aired a series of documentaries about Macchiarini … Continue reading Meet the filmmakers who cracked open the case against star surgeon Macchiarini

Weekend reads: Macchiarini guilty of misconduct; controversial PACE data to be released; gender bias at conferences

This week at Retraction Watch featured the return of a notorious fraudster, and plagiarism of plagiarism. Here’s what was happening elsewhere:

Macchiarini did not obtain necessary ethics approvals, says Swedish Research Council

Surgeon Paolo Macchiarini did not apply for the necessary ethics approval to perform the pioneering transplants he’s known for, according to the Swedish Research Council. Chief Legal Counsel Anna Hörnlund, who wrote a letter in this week’s The Lancet, says Macchiarini’s work needed to obtain ethical approval from one of six regional ethical review boards, as required by … Continue reading Macchiarini did not obtain necessary ethics approvals, says Swedish Research Council

Lancet issues expression of concern for 2011 Macchiarini paper

The Lancet has tagged an expression of concern onto a seminal 2011 paper by Paolo Macchiarini, the Italian surgeon whose work and conduct outside the operating room has earned months of  heavy criticism that recently culminated in his dismissal from the Karolinska Institutet. “Tracheobronchial transplantation with a stem-cell-seeded bioartificial nanocomposite: a proof-of-concept study,” which described the first … Continue reading Lancet issues expression of concern for 2011 Macchiarini paper

Macchiarini dismissed from Karolinska

The Karolinska Institutet has dismissed former rising star surgeon Paolo Macchiarini from his post, effective immediately. A KI news release, dated today, states: The Staff Disciplinary Board at Karolinska Institutet has today decided to relieve Paolo Macchiarini of his duties as a researcher at KI. He is to be informed immediately that his contract has been … Continue reading Macchiarini dismissed from Karolinska

Whistleblower removed from Macchiarini’s Lancet author list

Last week, The Lancet honored a co-author’s request to remove his name from Paolo Macchiarini’s seminal 2011 paper, which described the first transplant of an artificial trachea seeded with autologous stem cells but has since come under fire. On March 3, the journal posted this notice: The Lancet has been contacted by Dr KH Grinnemo … Continue reading Whistleblower removed from Macchiarini’s Lancet author list

Macchiarini may be dismissed from Karolinska; dean of research resigns

There’s more news to report on the story of surgeon Paolo Macchiarini, who’s been dogged by allegations of misconduct. After the Karolinska Institutet (KI) announced it would not extend his contract and that he needed to “phase out” his research by November, it has now announced it may dismiss him. In addition, Hans-Gustaf Ljunggren, KI’s Dean of … Continue reading Macchiarini may be dismissed from Karolinska; dean of research resigns