◆ Alice C. Chang, formerly an associate professor of basic medical sciences in the College of Veterinary Medicine at Purdue University, “falsified and/or fabricated data from the same mouse models or cell lines by reusing the data, with or without manipulation, to represent unrelated experiments from different mouse models or cell lines with different treatments,” the HHS Office of Research Integrity (ORI) announced Dec. 13. The data was used in 384 “figure panels” in two awards funded by the National Cancer Institute (NCI) and 14 applications NCI did not fund from 2014 to 2018. The falsified figures were also included in two published papers. ORI said Chang “neither admits nor denies ORI’s findings with respect” to the papers but did not mention whether she agreed with the other findings.
However, Chang agreed with ORI’s sanctions for the research misconduct, which call for her to exclude herself for 10 years from participating in federally funded programs, beginning Dec. 7. She also will “exclude herself voluntarily from serving in any advisory or consultant capacity to [the Public Health Service] PHS including, but not limited to, service on any PHS advisory committee, board, and/or peer review committee.” Chang will also request that the two papers be “corrected,” although it is not clear what type of corrections would be appropriate. ORI also has the authority to request retractions. The papers appeared in Cancer Research in 2015 and Oncogene in 2017. (12/15/22)
◆ Despite objections from the University of Kansas Center for Research (KUCR), the National Science Foundation (NSF) has disallowed all costs flagged by its Office of Inspector General (OIG) and is requiring repayment of $1,550,054. NSF “conducted detailed reviews of applicable Federal and NSF requirements, proposal and award information maintained by NSF, and documentation provided by KUCR,” NSF said in a Dec. 8 resolution report. The audit, issued Jan. 7, 2021, was one of five Established Program to Stimulate Competitive Research (EPSCoR) awards expended from Oct. 1, 2015, through Sept. 30, 2018. At the time of the audit, KUCR disputed $874,000 in direct and indirect costs that auditors said were unallowable or unsupported.
