[Federal Register Volume 78, Number 233 (Wednesday, December 4, 2013)]
[Notices]
[Pages 72892-72893]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2013-28887]


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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: Timothy Sheehy, 
B.A., BSc., SAIC-Frederick, Inc.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: David E. Wright, Ph.D., Director, 
Office of Research Integrity, 1101 Wootton Parkway, Suite 750, 
Rockville, MD 20852, (240) 453-8800.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 
    Timothy Sheehy, B.A., BSc., SAIC-Frederick, Inc.: Based on the 
report of an investigation conducted by SAIC-Frederick, Inc., and 
additional analysis conducted by ORI in its oversight review, ORI found 
that Mr. Timothy Sheehy, former Manager, DNA Extraction and Staging 
Laboratory (DESL), SAIC-Frederick, Inc., the Operations and Technical 
Services (OTC) Contractor for the Frederick National Laboratory for 
Cancer Research (FNLCR), Frederick, MD, engaged in research misconduct 
in research supported by National Cancer Institute (NCI), National 
Institutes of Health (NIH), contract HHSN2612008000001E awarded by 
FNLCR/NCI, NIH, to SAIC-Frederick, Inc., and the intramural program at 
the Occupational and Environmental Epidemiology Branch, Division of 
Cancer Epidemiology and Genetics, NCI.
    ORI found that the Respondent engaged in research misconduct by 
fabricating and/or falsifying U.S. Public Health Service (PHS)-
supported data in Table 1 included in Cancer Epidemiol Biomarkers Prev 
19(4):973-977, 2010 (hereafter referred to as the ``CEBP paper'').
    Specifically, ORI found that Respondent fabricated the quantitative 
and qualitative data for RNA and DNA purportedly extracted from 900 
formalin-fixed, paraffin-embedded (FFPE) colorectal tissue samples 
presented in Table 1 of the CEBP paper and falsely reported successful 
methodology to simultaneously recover nucleic acids from FFPE tissue 
specimens, when neither the extractions nor analyses of the FFPE 
samples were done. Thus, the main conclusions of the CEBP paper are 
based on fabricated data and are false.

[[Page 72893]]

    Mr. Sheehy has entered into a Voluntary Settlement Agreement and 
has voluntarily agreed for a period of three (3) years, beginning on 
November 8, 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 the Respondent's 
participation is proposed and prior to Respondent's 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
    Respondent's research contribution; Respondent 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;
    (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; and
    (4) that a letter will be submitted to the editors of CEBP 
requesting that the journal retract the publication.

David E. Wright,
Director, Office of Research Integrity.
[FR Doc. 2013-28887 Filed 12-3-13; 8:45 am]
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