FINDINGS OF SCIENTIFIC MISCONDUCT 

NIH GUIDE, Volume 25, Number 22, July 5, 1996

 

P.T. 34



Keywords:

  Ethics/Values in Science & Technol 

  Grants Administration/Policy+ 

 

Department of Health and Human Services

 

Notice is hereby given that the Office of Research Integrity (ORI)

has made final findings of scientific misconduct in the following

cases:

 

Robert J. Altman, M.D., University of California at San Francisco

(UCSF):  Based on an investigation conducted by the institution as

well as information obtained by ORI during its oversight review, ORI

found that Robert J. Altman, M.D., Research Fellow, Department of

Obstetrics, Gynecology, and Reproductive Sciences, UCSF, committed

scientific misconduct by fabricating and falsifying data in research

supported by two National Institutes of Health grants.

 

Specifically, Dr. Altman fabricated an experiment related to an

ovarian cell line injected intraperitoneally into 12 nude mice.  The

resulting data were reported in (1) a manuscript in page proof

entitled "Inhibiting vascular endothelial growth factor arrests

growth of ovarian cancer in an intraperitoneal model" (Journal of the

National Cancer Institute); (2) a manuscript entitled "Vascular

endothelial growth factor is essential for human ovarian carcinoma

growth in vivo," submitted to the Journal of Clinical Investigation

(JCI manuscript); and (3) a published abstract entitled "Vascular

endothelial growth factor is essential for ovarian cancer growth in

vivo" (Society for Gynecologic Investigation, abstract #079).

Further, in the JCI manuscript, Dr. Altman (1) falsified the number

of subjects with ovarian tumors from whom he obtained sections of

tissue for examination of the expression of vascular endothelial

growth factor (VEGF) purportedly by both in situ hybridization and

immunohistochemistry, and (2) falsely reported that VEGF expression

was examined by in situ hybridization and immunohistochemistry in

papillary serous- (n=7) and mucinous- (n=5) cystadenocarcinomas, when

the number of surgical cases involving papillary serous tumors was

four and the number of mucinous tumors was zero.  Dr. Altman examined

VEGF expression in only three papillary serous tumor specimens, one

specimen both in situ and by immunohistochemistry and the remaining

two solely by immunohistochemistry.

 

Dr. Altman has entered into a Voluntary Exclusion Agreement with ORI

in which he has voluntarily agreed, for the three year period

beginning June 11, 1996, to exclude himself from:

 

(1) any contracting or subcontracting with any agency of the United

States Government and from eligibility for, or involvement in,

nonprocurement transactions (e.g., grants and cooperative agreements)

of the United States Government as defined in 45 C.F.R. Part 76

(Debarment Regulations), and

 

(2) 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.

 

The above voluntary exclusion shall not apply to Dr. Altman's future

training or practice of clinical medicine whether as a medical

student, resident, fellow, or licensed practitioner, as the case may

be, unless that practice involves research or research training.

 

Vipin Kumar, Ph.D., California Institute of Technology:  Based upon a

report forwarded to the Office of Research Integrity (ORI) by the

California Institute of Technology (C.I.T.) dated January 10, 1991,

as well as information obtained by ORI during its oversight review,

ORI found that Vipin Kumar, Ph.D., formerly a scientist at C.I.T.,

engaged in scientific misconduct in biomedical research supported by

Public Health Service (PHS) funds.

 

Specifically, ORI found that Dr. Kumar committed scientific

misconduct by falsifying and/or fabricating Figures 2a and 2b in a

scientific paper published in the Journal of Experimental Medicine,

170:2183-2188 (1989) (JEM paper).  ORI accepted the C.I.T. conclusion

that Dr. Kumar ~freely admitted~ that he mislabeled the lanes in

Figures 2a and 2b, which are labeled to indicate they represent the

results of research from different DNA samples when in fact a number

of lanes are duplicates.  Although Dr. Kumar denies that he intended

to deceive anyone, C.I.T. concluded in its Report that the

"deliberate presentation of duplications of one experiment which are

labeled to indicate they came from separate DNA samples deceives the

reader as to the real source of the DNA in the experiment, where the

central point of the experiment is the similarity of results among

different sources."  ORI also accepted the C.I.T. conclusion that Dr.

Kumar presented Figure 2c of the JEM paper "in a very misleading

fashion."  The central observation of the JEM paper is that both

alleles of the alpha chain of the T-cell receptor gene are frequently

rearranged.  This conclusion was based, in part, on Figure 2c, which

C.I.T. found had been labeled in a misleading fashion that led the

reader to believe that the heavy band at the top of the blot was an

8kb restriction fragment (i.e., representing an internal control)

rather than undigested material that failed to enter the gel.

Examination of the original film indicates that there was no evidence

that the second alpha-chain rearranges in mature T-cells.  Thus, ORI

further accepted the C.I.T. conclusion that Figure 2 was

intentionally falsified and/or fabricated and that, as a result, "one

of the main scientific results of this paper was not substantiated by

the original data."

 

In addition, ORI found that Dr. Kumar committed scientific misconduct

by falsifying and/or fabricating Figure 5b of a manuscript that was

submitted for publication to the journal Cell (Cell manuscript), but

was later withdrawn.  ORI accepted the C.I.T. conclusion that lanes

6, 7 and 8 of Figure 5b are the same as lanes 11, 12 and 13,

respectively, even though they are labeled as being from different

samples.  ORI also accepted the C.I.T. conclusion that Dr. Kumar made

a number of other materially misleading statements in the Cell

manuscript that were not supported by the primary data.  For example,

C.I.T. concluded that Dr. Kumar made a number of materially

misleading statements about the age of mice and the timing of the

injection of peptides into these mice in a paper published in the

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 87:1337-1341 (1990)

(PNAS paper).  This information is material because induction of the

disease studied (i.e., allergic encephalomyelitis) is dependent upon

the age of the mice.

 

Based upon the findings of scientific misconduct in the C.I.T.

Report, the JEM and PNAS papers were retracted prior to ORI's

findings in this case.

 

ORI and Dr. Kumar agreed to resolve the case through a negotiated

settlement and limited voluntary exclusion agreement (Agreement),

which the parties agreed shall not be construed as an admission of

liability or wrongdoing on the part of the Dr. Kumar.

 

Dr. Kumar plans to submit a letter to ORI in which he summarizes his

response to ORI's findings.  Dr. Kumar has agreed to exclude himself

voluntarily from serving in any advisory capacity to the PHS,

including service on any PHS advisory committee, board, and/or peer

review committee, or as a consultant for a period of three years.

Dr. Kumar has also agreed to exclude himself voluntarily, for a

period of 18 months from any contracting or subcontracting with any

agency of the United States Government and from eligibility for, or

involvement in, nonprocurement transactions (e.g., grants and

cooperative agreements) of the United States Government.  However,

this provision will not apply to a currently pending PHS grant

application involving Dr. Kumar.

 

In addition, any institution that uses Dr. Kumar in any capacity on

PHS supported research must concurrently submit a plan for

supervision of Dr. Kumar's duties, designed to ensure the scientific

integrity of Dr. Kumar's research, for a period of three years.

Similarly, any institution employing Dr. Kumar must submit, in

conjunction with each application for PHS funds or report of PHS

funded research in which Dr. Kumar is involved, a certification that

the data provided by Dr. Kumar are based on actual experiments or are

otherwise legitimately derived and that the data, procedures and

methodology are accurately reported in the application or research

report, for a period of three (3) years.

 

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

 

.

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