Subscribe to Receive the Daily Report

Saturday, January 14th, 2012

Researcher Who Studied Benefits Of Red Wine Falsified Data Says University

Author:     CATHARINE PADDOCK PHD
Source:     Medical News Today
Publication Date:     12 Jan 2012 - 2:00 PST
 Link: Researcher Who Studied Benefits Of Red Wine Falsified Data Says University
Stephan:   I hate these stories. Science has to be based on a certain kind of trust. No one has time to check every statement in every paper they read. There has to be trust. When that breaks down the system breaks down. Scientists who break this trust degrade themselves and science's core integrity. This is the story of a resveratrol researcher. The good news is that the system self-corrects and, according to a report from the Associated Press, Dr Nir Barzilai, whose team conducts resveratrol research at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine in New York, says Dr. Dipak Das, who has been found guilty of falsification is not a major player in the field, and the general conclusions concerning resveratrol remain sound.

An extensive misconduct investigation that took three years to complete and produced a 60,000-page report, concludes that a researcher who has come to prominence in recent years for his investigations into the beneficial properties of resveratrol, a compound found in red wine, ‘is guilty of 145 counts of fabrication and falsification of data’.

In a statement published on the university’s news website on Wednesday, the University of Connecticut (UConn) Health Center said the investigation has led them to inform 11 scientific journals that had published studies conducted by Dr Dipak K. Das, a professor in the unversity’s Department of Surgery and director of its Cardiovascular Research Center.

The internal investigation, which covered seven years of work in Das’s lab, was triggered by an anonyomous allegation of ‘research irregularities’ in 2008.

Das has been in UConn’s employ since 1984, and was awarded tenure in 1993.

UConn Health Center said it worked closely with the US Office of Research Integrity (ORI) throughout its internal investigation. ORI have received the report, and they will now conduct an independent investigation.

Inquiries involving former members of the lab are still under way, and no findings have been released as yet.

All externally funded research in Das’s lab is now frozen, and […]

Read the Full Article