| kathleen 2005-10-29, 11:18 am |
| The New York Times
October 28, 2005
M.I.T. Dismisses a Researcher, Saying He Fabricated Some Data
By THE NEW YORK TIMES
The Massachusetts Institute of Technology announced yesterday that it
had dismissed an immunology researcher at its Center for Cancer
Research, saying he fabricated and falsified data in a scientific paper
and in grant applications.
The researcher, Dr. Luk Van Parijs, admitted the fraud, the university
said. He did not return a call requesting comment.
Alice Gast, the university's vice president for research, said the
fraud came to light after members of Dr. Van Parijs's research term
came forward with accusations of misconduct. Dr. Van Parijs was placed
on leave a year ago while an investigation proceeded.
M.I.T.'s report has now been forwarded to the federal agency that
investigates scientific fraud, the Office of Research Integrity in the
Department of Health and Human Services. Until the federal
investigation is complete, the university cannot make the report public
or identify the article that was found to be fraudulent, a spokeswoman
said.
Dr. Van Parijs, 35, has published articles in such leading journals as
Science, Nature Genetics and The Proceedings of the National Academy of
Sciences. His field of research is in the use of a form of RNA in
studying disease mechanisms; the work did not involve medical research,
M.I.T. said.
Dr. Gast said that Dr. Van Parijs had cooperated with the investigation
and that the fraud affected only one published paper and several
articles submitted for publication. M.I.T. is taking steps to retract
the published paper and to make clear how the fraud occurred, so as to
preserve the reputations of Dr. Van Parijs's colleagues.
"We are very concerned that his actions not cast a shadow over his
co-authors or members of his research group, none of whom was involved
in the misconduct," Dr. Gast said.
Cases of research misconduct - making up data, changing the data or the
results to misrepresent experiments, or copying other scientists' work
- are relatively rare. In the decade ending in 2002, there were about
50 cases of misconduct involving research sponsored by the National
Science Foundation and 137 cases involving research financed by the
National Institutes of Health.
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