Neuroscientist made up data in NIH grant applications, says ORI

Paul Muchowski, a neuroscience researcher at the Gladstone Institute of Neurological Disease in San Francisco, faked data in multiple grant applications, according to findings released today by the Office of Research Integrity (ORI). In a funded NIH grant, R01 NS054753-06A1, and two submitted grant applications, R01 NS054753-06 and R01 NS047237-06, ORI says that Muchowski “knowingly … Continue reading Neuroscientist made up data in NIH grant applications, says ORI

ORI: Ohio State researcher manipulated two dozen figures in NIH grants, papers

Terry S. Elton, a researcher at Ohio State University in Columbus who studies genetic expression in various heart conditions and Down syndrome, has been sanctioned by the U.S. Office of Research Integrity for fabricating and/or falsifying data in a number of NIH grants and resulting papers. According to an OSU statement sent to Retraction Watch … Continue reading ORI: Ohio State researcher manipulated two dozen figures in NIH grants, papers

Journal of Neuroscience retraction, typically opaque, from author with history of errors

The Journal of Neuroscience has retracted a 2011 paper by an international group of scientists, including the prominent Maryland researcher Ronald Dubner, but readers won’t know why. As the notice “explains“:

Two patch-clamping retractions in PNAS and the JCI after first author admits image manipulation

A group of cardiology researchers formerly of the University of Cologne has retracted two papers, after investigations into allegations of misconduct led to an admission of guilt by one of the lab’s junior members. Here’s the first retraction, for “Connexin 43 acts as a cytoprotective mediator of signal transduction by stimulating mitochondrial KATP channels in … Continue reading Two patch-clamping retractions in PNAS and the JCI after first author admits image manipulation

Odd: Retractions 18 and 19 for Dipak Das, and a new paper in the same journal, as if nothing were amiss

Dipak Das, the resveratrol researcher found guilty of more than 100 counts of misconduct by the University of Connecticut, has two more retractions for his resume. But that’s not the most interesting part of this post, so keep reading after the notices. Both retractions appeared in the October 2012 issue of the Journal of Cellular … Continue reading Odd: Retractions 18 and 19 for Dipak Das, and a new paper in the same journal, as if nothing were amiss

ORI sanctions former University of Kentucky nutrition researcher for faking dozens of images in 10 papers

The U.S. Office of Research Integrity has come down hard on a Eric J. Smart, an NIH-funded former University of Kentucky nutrition researcher who faked data in ten published papers and seven grant applications over the past decade. Smart studies cholesterol, heart disease, diabetes, and high blood pressure. According to the notice in the Federal … Continue reading ORI sanctions former University of Kentucky nutrition researcher for faking dozens of images in 10 papers

The Nature paper that required three corrections

In baseball, it’s three strikes and you’re out. In Nature, apparently, you can stay at the plate after three swings-and-misses. That’s what we concluded from a Corrigendum in last week’s issue, for “CD95 promotes tumour growth,” originally published in May 2010 and now corrected not once, not twice, but three times. Here was the first … Continue reading The Nature paper that required three corrections

Correction for MD Anderson’s Bharat Aggarwal arches eyebrows for the right reasons

We’ve written about mega-corrections that allow scientists to retrace virtually all of their steps yet preserve their publications as supposedly legitimate. And we’ve seen plenty of corrections that allow authors to assert that their conclusions are correct when evidently important pieces of data are themselves unreliable. Now comes a correction that seems to us to … Continue reading Correction for MD Anderson’s Bharat Aggarwal arches eyebrows for the right reasons

Immunology paper retracted because “documents were not archived with due diligence”

A group of researchers from Austria, Canada, Germany, and the U.S. have retracted a 2008 paper in the Journal of Immunology after being unable to verify the contents of some key figures. Here’s the notice:

University College London mitochondrial biologist resigns after three retractions for image fraud

A biologist at University College London (UCL) has resigned his post and taken responsibility for “inappropriate figures manipulations” in three now-retracted papers. Assegid Garedew, formerly a senior research investigator in Salvador Moncada‘s group, stepped down earlier this summer in the midst of an investigation that should be completed soon, Moncada tells Retraction Watch. The three … Continue reading University College London mitochondrial biologist resigns after three retractions for image fraud