[Federal Register Volume 79, Number 227 (Tuesday, November 25, 2014)]
[Notices]
[Pages 70187-70188]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2014-27813]
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES
Office of the Secretary
Findings of Research Misconduct
AGENCY: Office of the Secretary, HHS.
ACTION: Notice.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
SUMMARY: Notice is hereby given that the Office of Research Integrity
(ORI) has taken final action in the following case:
Dr. Igor Dzhura, Vanderbilt University: Based on an inquiry
conducted and admission obtained by Vanderbilt University (VU) and
additional analysis conducted by ORI in its oversight review, ORI found
that Dr. Igor Dzhura, former Senior Research Associate, Department of
Biomedical Engineering, VU, engaged in research misconduct in research
supported by U.S. Public Health Service (PHS) funds, specifically
National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI), National Institutes
of Health (NIH), grants R01 HL070250, R01 HL062494, P01 HL046681, and
K08 HL03727, National Institute of Arthritis and Musculoskeletal and
Skin Diseases (NIAMS), NIH, grant R01 AR044864, National Institute of
Mental Health (NIMH), NIH, grant R01 MH063232, National Institute of
Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), NIH, grant U01 AI06223, and
National Cancer Institute (NCI), NIH, grant U54 CA113007.
ORI found that Respondent engaged in research misconduct by
providing falsified and/or fabricated data to his supervisor and
colleagues. Specifically, Respondent:
Submitted falsified cytosolic calcium buffering experiments to
his research supervisor by misrepresenting apparent action potential
traces; these actually were fluorescent calcium transients merged with
sodium calcium exchange currents from a different experiment;
Respondent admitted to falsely claiming ten replicates for each trace
when only testing three to five cells
falsified sodium calcium exchange (NCX) activity in Very Long
Chain Acid Dehydrogenase Deficient (VLCAD) mice versus wild type mice
in a PowerPoint presentation by falsely labeling and manipulating NCX
data from a different experiment testing an unrelated compound; the
effect was to falsely claim a difference in NCX activity between the
two mouse phenotypes
provided a falsified Figure 6C in a manuscript submitted to
Nature Cell Biology, while claiming that the data were based on
Respondent's memory of his data that had purportedly been collected and
lost; Respondent claimed to have tested one hundred fifty (150) cells
for their action potential characteristics when the experimental record
only accounted for approximately twenty (20).
ORI found that Respondent engaged in research misconduct by
falsifying and/or fabricating the research record of patch-clamp data.
Specifically, Respondent:
Created a hierarchy of computer folders containing duplicated
and renamed files; the falsified groups of files included eighty-two
(82) groups of duplicated files with each group containing two to
twenty-one (2-21) duplicates, which made it appear that experiments
were conducted when they were not
used the falsified and/or fabricated data files in Figure 6 of
a paper published in the American Journal of Physiology-Heart and
Circulatory Physiology (292(5):H2202-H2211, 2007), to represent Ca+
currents in cardiac myocytes from CLCAD-/- mice; specifically,
Respondent claimed that Figure 6 represented results from seven (7)
mice when the data files were three (3) sets of duplicated and renamed
files plus one additional data file. All of the data files were part of
larger groups of identical duplicated and renamed data files on the
Respondent's hard drive.
ORI found that Respondent engaged in research misconduct by
submitting and publishing multiple falsified and/or fabricated action
potential traces and summary data in at least sixty-nine (69) images in
twelve (12) different figures across seven (7) publications and three
(3) grant applications by duplication and relabeling of traces;
resizing, modifying, and splicing different traces; and modifying and/
or duplicating bar graphs.
The evidence established that Respondent engaged in research
misconduct, as defined by the PHS regulation, in that he significantly
departed from accepted research practices by engaging in the
intentional and knowing fabrication and falsification of data files.
Dr. Dzhura has entered into a Voluntary Exclusion Agreement
(Agreement) and has voluntarily agreed for a period of three (3) years,
beginning on October 29, 2014:
(1) To exclude himself from any contracting or subcontracting with
any agency of the United States Government and from eligibility or
involvement in nonprocurement programs of the United States Government
referred to as ``covered transactions'' pursuant to HHS' Implementation
(2 CFR part 376 et seq) of OMB Guidelines to Agencies on Governmentwide
Debarment and Suspension, 2 CFR part 180 (collectively the ``Debarment
Regulations'');
[[Page 70188]]
(2) to exclude himself 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
(3) to retract or correct the following publications:
Nature Cell Biology 2:173-177, 2000
J. Physiol. 535(3):679-687, 2001
Circulation 106:1288-1293, 2002
J. Physiol. 545(2):399-406, 2002
J. Physiol. 550(3):731-738, 2003
FASEB J. 19:1573-1585, 2005
Molecular Cell 23:641-650, 2006
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Acting Director, Office of Research
Integrity, 1101 Wootton Parkway, Suite 750, Rockville, MD 20852, (240)
453-8200.
Donald Wright,
Acting Director, Office of Research Integrity.
[FR Doc. 2014-27813 Filed 11-24-14; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE P