Findings of Scientific Misconduct, 52346 [2010-21048]

Agencies

• Office of the Secretary
• DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES

[Federal Register Volume 75, Number 164 (Wednesday, August 25, 2010)]
[Notices]
[Page 52346]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Printing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2010-21048]


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DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES

Office of the Secretary


Findings of Scientific 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) and the Assistant Secretary for Health have taken final action in 
the following case:
    Elizabeth Goodwin, PhD, University of Wisconsin-Madison: Based on 
the report of an investigation conducted by the University of 
Wisconsin-Madison (UW-M) and additional analysis conducted by ORI in 
its oversight review, the U.S. Public Health Service (PHS) found that 
Elizabeth Goodwin, PhD, former associate professor of genetics and 
medical genetics, UW-M, engaged in scientific misconduct while her 
research was supported by National Institute of General Medical 
Sciences (NIGMS), National Institutes of Health (NIH), grants R01 
GM051836 and R01 GM073183.
    PHS found that the Respondent engaged in misconduct in science by 
falsifying and fabricating data that she included in grant applications 
2 R01 GM051836-13 and 1 R01 GM073183-01.
    PHS found that in grant application 2 R01 GM051836-13, Respondent 
knowingly and intentionally:
     Falsified Figures 5A and 5B by reusing figures from two of 
her earlier published papers and falsely labeling them to claim results 
that had not been achieved in her laboratory.
     Falsified Figure 7B by reusing a figure from one of her 
published papers and both relabeling it to claim she had detected the 
STAR-2 protein rather than the TRA-l protein actually detected and 
modifying the image in the application to disguise its origin.
     Falsified Figure 8C by using a figure produced by one of 
her students and relabeled it to show that RNAi treatment of C. elegans 
led to increased expression of the TRA-2 protein when this result had 
not been obtained by the student.
     Falsified the table on Page 20 of the application showing 
phenotypic frequencies of worms expressing star-2 (ok483) mutants by 
significantly overstating the level of aberrant phenotypes and 
fabricating certain categories of phenotypes not seen by the student 
conducting the research.
    PHS finds that in grant application 1 R01 GM073183-01, Dr. Goodwin 
knowingly and intentionally:
     Falsified Figure 5 because she used the same two lanes in 
both Figure 5 and Figure 7, although they were flipped horizontally in 
one of the figures to disguise their reuse. In Figure 7, the lanes 
illustrated an effect on laf-1 during developmental stages of C. 
elegans, and in Figure 5, the same lanes purportedly illustrated an 
effect on laf-1 noncoding RNA. A witness testified that the result in 
Figure 5 had not been observed, while that in Figure 7 had, indicating 
that the claims for Figure 5 were falsified.
     Falsified Figure 8 by reusing photographs prepared by a 
student that identified the location of rRas-l expression in adult 
worms and claiming instead that the images illustrated the location of 
laf-1 mRNA. The images had been enlarged and cropped to disguise their 
location.
    Dr. Goodwin has entered into a Voluntary Exclusion Agreement in 
which she has voluntarily agreed, for a period of three (3) years, 
beginning on July 22, 2010:
    (1) To exclude herself from any contracting or subcontracting with 
any agency of the U.S. Government and from eligibility for, or 
involvement in, nonprocurement programs of the U.S. Government referred 
to as ``covered transactions'' pursuant to the HHS Implementation of 
OMB Guidelines to Agencies on Governmentwide Debarment and Suspension 
at 2 CFR 376, et seq.; and
    (2) To exclude herself 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.
    This Agreement is entered into pursuant to the terms of a plea 
agreement by and between the Respondent and the United States Attorney 
for the Western District of Wisconsin.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Director, Division of Investigative 
Oversight, Office of Research Integrity, 1101 Wootton Parkway, Suite 
750, Rockville, MD 20852, (240) 453-8800.

John Dahlberg,
Director, Division of Investigative Oversight, Office of Research 
Integrity.
[FR Doc. 2010-21048 Filed 8-24-10; 8:45 am]
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