In a damaging turn of events for Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, a series of retractions have been issued following an investigation into data integrity at the institute. The latest retraction was for a 2006 Science paper co-authored by Laurie Glimcher, president and CEO of the institute. The retraction notice, published in Science on Thursday, stated that discrepancies in key scientific images had been identified by the authors, leading to a loss of confidence in the study’s key figures.
However, the study’s lead author opposed the retraction. This investigation has raised serious concerns about data integrity at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute and the credibility of the research conducted by its top researchers. The retractions and discrepancies in key scientific images are damaging not only to the reputation of the institute but also to the scientific community as a whole. It is crucial for institutions to prioritize data integrity and ensure that research findings are accurate and reliable. This case serves as a reminder of the importance of maintaining high standards of scientific integrity in order to preserve the credibility of scientific research.
Scientific investigator Sholto David brought these issues to light in a January blog post, highlighting problems with more than 50 other articles co-authored by four of Dana-Farber’s top researchers. Some of these problems were identified in the last year on PubPeer, a website dedicated to addressing data issues in research, while others had been posted several years ago. Many of these comments focused on duplicated images of experimental results, which could potentially impact the scientific conclusions drawn from them.
Overall, this investigation has raised serious concerns about data integrity at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute and
