Sometime in the middle of 2015, Jennifer Byrne, professor of molecular oncology at the University of Sydney, began her journey from cancer researcher to a scientific literature sleuth, seeking out potentially problematic papers. The first step was when she noticed several papers that contained a mistake in a DNA construct which, she believed, meant the … Continue reading What turned a cancer researcher into a literature watchdog?
A pathology journal is retracting two papers after an investigation at the last author’s institution in Germany found evidence of scientific misconduct. The notice for both papers cites an investigation involving Regine Schneider-Stock, who studies cancer biology at the Friedrich Alexander-University Erlangen-Nuremberg (FAU). Meanwhile, another 2005 paper that lists Schneider-Stock as the first author was retracted … Continue reading Cancer researcher in Germany loses multiple papers after misconduct finding
Earlier this month, Morris Karmazyn, an award-winning cardiovascular researcher who’s published hundreds of papers, was called into a meeting with the office of faculty relations at the University of Western Ontario, and terminated. The reason? A series of image problems in some of his papers, raised by a former member of his lab. When Karmazyn, Canada … Continue reading Prominent heart researcher dismissed by Ontario university; colleagues appeal
Researchers have retracted a 2016 cancer study, citing discrepancies between the data and images presented in the paper. Although the retraction notice itself contains relatively little information, we’ve obtained a letter from the last author — Jun-Li Luo of The Scripps Research Institute in Jupiter, Florida — to the editor-in-chief of Cell Death and Differentiation that says … Continue reading Authors retract 2016 cancer study when data don’t align with figures
By all accounts, science is facing a crisis: Too many preclinical studies aren’t reproducible, leading to wasted time and effort by researchers around the world. Today in Cell Metabolism, Daniel Drucker at the Lunenfeld-Tanenbaum Research Institute of Mount Sinai Hospital in Toronto details numerous ways to make this early research more robust. His most important advice: … Continue reading How can we improve preclinical research? Advice from a diabetes researcher
A biologist has corrected three papers that are nearly a decade old, after concerns were raised on PubPeer. A commenter first posted a comment about an image in one of the papers in 2013; after more comments on other papers appeared in November 2015, author Zoya Avramova at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln received emails alerting her to … Continue reading Prompted by PubPeer, biologist corrects three papers
Biologists are retracting three papers after the journal concluded they contain reused images, designed to represent different experiments. The authors stand by the conclusions, some of which they say have been “extensively validated.” The Journal of Biological Chemistry used image analysis software to evaluate the images, first published at least a decade ago. Unfortunately, the raw … Continue reading Authors reused images in three papers, concludes journal probe
Anna Ahimastos, a heart researcher who faked patient records, has notched her 7th retraction. One more paper is expected to be retracted, according to a spokesperson from her former institution, the Baker IDI Heart & Diabetes Institute in Australia. As with the other retractions, the 2005 paper in Hypertension — about how the hypertension drug ramipril may help alleviate … Continue reading 7th retraction for heart researcher who faked patient records
Science is fixing images in a paper published online in April that discovered an immune-boosting protein, after the authors mistakenly mixed up similar-looking Western blots. The paper, which received some press coverage, identified a protein that helped the immune system fight off cancers and infections. Philip Ashton-Rickardt, a scientist at Imperial College London who led the study, … Continue reading “Carelessness” forces Science to correct paper about immune booster
A nearly ten-year-long series of investigations into a pair of plant physiologists who received millions in funding from the U.S. National Science Foundation has resulted in debarments of less than two years for each of the researchers. The NSF Office of Inspector General recently posted its close-out report on its decision and a review of … Continue reading NSF investigation of high-profile plant retractions ends in two debarments