[Federal Register Volume 78, Number 191 (Wednesday, October 2, 2013)]
[Notices]
[Pages 60873-60874]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2013-23971]
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DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES
Office of the Secretary
Findings of Research Misconduct
AGENCY: Office of the Secretary, HHS.
ACTION: Notice.
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SUMMARY: Notice is hereby given that the Office of Research Integrity
(ORI) has taken final action in the following case:
Nitin Aggarwal, Ph.D., Medical College of Wisconsin and University
of Wisconsin-Madison: Based on the reports of the investigations
conducted by the Medical College of Wisconsin (MCW) and the University
of Wisconsin-Madison (UW) and additional analysis conducted by the ORI
in its oversight review, ORI found that Dr. Nitin Aggarwal, former
Graduate Student, MCW, and former Assistant Scientist, UW, engaged in
research misconduct in research supported by National Heart, Lung, and
Blood Institute (NHLBI), National Institutes of Health (NIH), grants
R01 HL37981, R01 HL54075, and R01 HL57414.
ORI found that that the Respondent engaged in research misconduct
by falsifying and/or fabricating PHS-supported data in six (6) figures
that were included in the following two (2) publications, one (1) grant
application to the American Heart Association (AHA), one (1) grant
application to NIH, and the Respondent's Ph.D. thesis:
Aggarwal, N.T., Pfister, S.L., & Campbell, W.B.
``Hypercholesterolemia Enhances 15-Lipoxygenase Mediated Vasorelaxation
and Acetylcholine-Induced Hypotension.'' Arteriosclerosis, Thrombosis,
and Vascular Biology 28:2209-2215, 2008 (hereafter the ``ATVB paper'').
Aggarwal, N.T., Pfister, S.L., Gauthier, K.M., Chawengsub,
Y., Baker, J.E., & Campbell, W.B. ``Chronic hypoxia enhances 15-
lipoxygenase-mediated vasorelaxation in rabbit arteries.'' American
Journal of Physiology--Heart Circulation Physiology 296:H678-H688, 2008
(hereafter the ``AJP paper'').
Aggarwal, N.T., Principal Investigator (P.I.), National
Scientist Development grant application to the American Heart
Association No. 11SDG7650072, ``Sulfonylurea rReceptor-2 splice variant
and mitochondrial mechanisms for cardioprotection and arrhythmia''
(hereafter the ``AHA grant application'').
K99 HL113518-01, ``Mitochondrial ATP-sensitive K-channels
and pharmacological approaches for cardioprotection,'' Aggarwal, Nitin,
Ph.D., P.I.
Aggarwal, N.T. ``Endothelial 15-lipoxygenase regulates
vasorelaxation and blood pressure in rabbits in normal and pathological
condictions.'' A Dissertation Submitted to the Faculty of the Graduate
School of Biomedical Science of the Medical College of Wisconsin in
Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of
Philosophy, Milwaukee, Wisconsin, 2008 (hereafter the ``thesis'').
Specifically, ORI found that Respondent engaged in research
misconduct by falsifying Western blot loading control data by
inverting, duplicating, and cropping source blot films and/or using
films from unrelated experiments to construct five (5) false Western
blot figures. In the absence of valid blot images, Respondent falsified
and/or fabricated the corresponding quantitative data for summary bar
graphs and the data statistics in related text. Respondent admitted to
falsely reporting the number of mice reported for an experiment
reported in Figure 4
[[Page 60874]]
in grant application HL113518-01 to support the hypothesis of the
research. The falsified and/or fabricated data are:
False [szlig]-actin data and statistics in Figures 1A and
1B in the AJP paper and Figures 41A and 41B in the thesis (p. 131) that
purport to represent a time-course of 15-LO-1 protein expression in
rabbit aortic endothelial cells (RAECs) following hypoxia.
false [szlig]-actin and 15-LO-1 data and statistics in
Figures 2A and 2B in the AJP paper and Figures 45A and 45B in the
thesis (p. 135) that purport to represent 15-LO-1 expression in aortic
rings of normoxic and hypoxic rabbits.
false [szlig]-actin data and statistics in Figures 3A and
3B in the AJP paper and Figures 46A and 46B in the Respondent's Ph.D.
thesis (p. 137) that purport to represent 15-LO-1 expression in
different arteries after hypoxia.
false [szlig]-actin data and statistics in Figures 1A and
1B in the ATVB paper and Figures 26A and 26B in the thesis (p. 105)
that purport to demonstrate changes in 15-LO-1 expression in different
arteries of cholesterol-animals; the false [szlig]-actin data in Figure
1A, ATVB was the same image as that used for Figure 1A, AJP but flipped
vertically.
false GAPDH data and statistics in Figure 7 in the AHA
grant application that purport to represent SUR2A-55 expression in
murine heart following left ventricular hypertrophy (LVH).
false reporting in Figure 4A of grant application
HL113518-01 for the number of mice used for the physiological data for
ATP-induced potassium influx in murine mitochondria as three to four,
when only a single mouse was studied.
Dr. Aggarwal has entered into a Voluntary Settlement Agreement and
has voluntarily agreed for a period of three (3) years, beginning on
September 17, 2013:
(1) To have his research supervised; Respondent agreed that prior
to the submission of an application for U.S. Public Health Service
(PHS) support for a research project on which his participation is
proposed and prior to his participation in any capacity on PHS-
supported research, Respondent shall ensure that a plan for supervision
of his duties is submitted to ORI for approval; the supervision plan
must be designed to ensure the scientific integrity of his research
contribution; he agreed that he shall not participate in any PHS-
supported research until such a supervision plan is submitted to and
approved by ORI; Respondent agreed to maintain responsibility for
compliance with the agreed upon supervision plan;
(2) that any institution employing him shall submit in conjunction
with each application for PHS funds, or report, manuscript, or abstract
involving PHS-supported research in which Respondent is involved, a
certification to ORI that the data provided by Respondent are based on
actual experiments or are otherwise legitimately derived, and that the
data, procedures, and methodology are accurately reported in the
application, report, manuscript, or abstract; and
(3) to exclude himself voluntarily from serving in any advisory
capacity to PHS including, but not limited to, service on any PHS
advisory committee, board, and/or peer review committee, or as a
consultant.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Director, Office of Research
Integrity, 1101 Wootton Parkway, Suite 750, Rockville, MD 20852, (240)
453-8200.
David E. Wright,
Director, Office of Research Integrity.
[FR Doc. 2013-23971 Filed 10-1-13; 8:45 am]
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