Search Results for: "western blots"

“The first author assumes all responsibility:” Malaria vaccine article retracted for image manipulation

Authors of a 2012 article in Infection and Immunity investigating a malaria vaccine strategy are retracting it because it “contains several images that do not accurately reflect the experimental data.” The paper, “Fine Specificity of Plasmodium vivax Duffy Binding Protein Binding Engagement of the Duffy Antigen on Human Erythrocytes,” has been cited 9 times, according to Thomson … Continue reading “The first author assumes all responsibility:” Malaria vaccine article retracted for image manipulation

Cancer team loses two papers for image manipulation

A team spread across multiple institutions in China and McGill University in Canada has retracted two cancer papers over “inaccurate and inappropriately processed Western Blots.” Some of the figures were also reused between the two articles, both in Biochimica et Biophysica Acta General Subjects. The articles both tested the cancer-fighting properties of a derivative of … Continue reading Cancer team loses two papers for image manipulation

Cancer Cell issues big correction over “incorrectly cropped” figures, other issues

A 2014 Cancer Cell paper became the subject of an erratum in January 2015, shortly after PubPeer members began criticizing the data. However, many issues brought up by commenters weren’t addressed in the correction notice, including a figure that might be two experiments spliced together to look like one. The paper, led by Guido Franzoso at Imperial College … Continue reading Cancer Cell issues big correction over “incorrectly cropped” figures, other issues

PLoS ONE mega-correction, but no retraction, for researcher who sued diabetes journal

PLoS ONE has just issued a 12-figure correction on a paper by Mario A. Saad, who sued the American Diabetes Association unsuccessfully in an attempt to prevent it from retracting four papers in its flagship journal Diabetes. The corrections include taking out Western blots copied from another Saad paper, as well as several figures where the bands … Continue reading PLoS ONE mega-correction, but no retraction, for researcher who sued diabetes journal

Retracted paper on herbicide-ovarian cancer connection republished

A retracted 2008 paper originally flagged by Clare Francis has been republished in Environmental Health Perspectives with updated figures and new data. According to the editor’s note appended to the newly published paper, there was no evidence of intentional misconduct on the part of the authors. The new paper went through peer review as an entirely new submission, and comes … Continue reading Retracted paper on herbicide-ovarian cancer connection republished

PubPeer files motion to dismiss Sarkar defamation case

Attorneys representing PubPeer in its defense against a subpoena by cancer researcher Fazlul Sarkar, of Wayne State University in Michigan, have submitted a motion to the Wayne County Circuit Court to quash the matter. Sarkar’s work has appeared on the anonymized post-publication peer review site, and he isn’t happy about it. In October, he sued … Continue reading PubPeer files motion to dismiss Sarkar defamation case

Heart journal pulls paper for image manipulation

Cardiovascular Research has retracted a 2010 paper by a group of prominent cardiology researchers in Brazil. The reason: Image manipulation — which the authors say didn’t materially affect the conclusions of the paper. The article, “FAK mediates the activation of cardiac fibroblasts induced by mechanical stress through regulation of the mTOR complex,” came from a … Continue reading Heart journal pulls paper for image manipulation

Scientist in Ireland notches two mysterious retractions and a correction

Sinead Miggin, a biologist at the National University of Ireland Maynooth, has withdrawn two papers from the Journal of Biological Chemistry (JBC) and has corrected another paper, in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS). Here’s the opaque JBC notice for “14-3-3ϵ and 14-3-3σ inhibit Toll-like receptor (TLR)-mediated proinflammatory cytokine induction,” a paper … Continue reading Scientist in Ireland notches two mysterious retractions and a correction

Diabetes researcher Cory Toth up to seven retractions

A University of Calgary diabetes researcher, Cory Toth, who told us earlier this year that he would cease publishing in the scientific literature, has two more retractions, making seven. Both appear in Neurobiology of Disease. Here’s the notice for “Differential impact of diabetes and hypertension in the brain: Adverse effects in white matter:”