Fw: ORI Finding of Misconduct

[Tom Eirik Gjerdrum <tokgjm95@STUDENT.UMU.SE>]

Hello

I came across this on another list. Is scientific misconduct a problem
outside of Universities ? Do clinical findings receive the scrutiny that
would divulge any misconduct ? I´m only asking out of curiosity, I have no
knowledge nor have I ever heard any rumours on particular researchers.

wrg

teg

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Tom Eirik Gjerdrum      tokgjm95@student.umu.se         Medical Student

"In our society you can state your views, but they have to be correct."

Erne Hai, coordinator of the Singapore Internet Project on free speech:
Wired; November 1996
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> From: J. Philip Miller <phil@wubios.wustl.edu>
> To: Multiple recipients of list SCIFRAUD <SCIFRAUD@CNSIBM.ALBANY.EDU>
> Subject: ORI Finding of Misconduct
> Date: den 19 november 1996 13:53
>
> FINDINGS OF SCIENTIFIC MISCONDUCT
>
> NIH GUIDE, Volume 25, Number 39, November 15, 1996
>
> P.T. 34; K.W. 1014004, 1014006
>
> Department of Health and Human Services
>
> Notice is hereby given that the Office of Research Integrity (ORI)
> has made a final finding of scientific misconduct in the following
> case:
>
> Melissa A. Harrington, University of Texas Southwestern Medical
> Center:  Based upon an investigation conducted by the University of
> Texas Southwestern Medical Center, information obtained by ORI during
> its oversight review, and Dr. Harrington's own admission, ORI found
> that Melissa A. Harrington, Ph.D., former postdoctoral research
> fellow, Department of Pharmacology at the University of Texas
> Southwestern Medical Center, engaged in scientific misconduct by
> falsifying the methodology and figures in a manuscript that was
> accepted for publication in the Journal of Neuroscience (~G`q and G~~
> open two Bradykinin-gated potassium channels via a membrane-delimited
> pathway~).  The research was supported by a grant from the National
> Institute of General Medical Sciences (NIGMS), National Institutes of
> Health (NIH).
>
> Specifically, ORI found that Dr. Harrington had (1) falsely described
> the addition of GDP to a G-protein subunit buffer, when she had
> omitted it from some of the experiments; (2) falsified three figures
> (a) by falsely depicting the course of an electrophysiological
> response as being due to a combination of two substances that had not
> been combined and (b) by falsely representing a single channel
> current record as being an example of a distinct channel type that
> was elicited by the substance G`q, which had not been added prior to
> the recording; and
> (3) intentionally incorporated the falsified data from the
> experiments in which GDP had been omitted into her statistical
> descriptions.
>
> The Journal of Neuroscience manuscript was withdrawn and was never
> published.
>
> Dr. Harrington has accepted the ORI finding and has entered into a
> Voluntary Exclusion Agreement with ORI in which she has voluntarily
> agreed, for the three (3) year period beginning October 23, 1996:
>
> (1) to voluntarily exclude herself from serving in any advisory
> capacity to the Public Health Service (PHS), including but not
> limited to service on any PHS advisory committee, board, and/or peer
> review committee, or as a consultant; and
>
> (2) that any institution that submits an application for PHS support
> for a research project on which the respondent's participation is
> proposed or which uses the respondent in any capacity on PHS
> supported research must concurrently submit a plan for supervision of
> her duties.  The supervisory plan must be designed to ensure the
> scientific integrity of the respondent's research contribution.  The
> institution must submit a copy of the supervisory plan to ORI.
>
> INQUIRIES
>
> For further information, contact:
>
> Director, Division of Research Investigations
> Office of Research Integrity
> 5515 Security Lane, Suite 700
> Rockville, MD  20852
> Telephone:  (301) 443-5330
>
>
>
> --
>      J. Philip Miller, Professor, Division of Biostatistics, Box 8067
>          Washington University Medical School, St. Louis MO 63110
>           phil@wubios.WUstl.edu - (314) 362-3617 [362-2693(FAX)]
>                     http://www.biostat.wustl.edu/~phil