An official finding of misconduct was issued on Thursday by the Department of Health and Human Services, in connection with falsified neurological research funded by a government grant.
Shuo Chen, Ph.D, was a postdoctoral researcher in the Department of Physics at the University of California Berkeley. Per the release, the research at issue was related to a grant that was submitted for Public Health Service (PHS) funds from the National Institutes of Health (NIH). The grant, titled: “Investigation into network dynamics of hippocampal replay sequences by ultrafast voltage imaging,” was designed to provide imaging of the hippocampal region of the brain dynamically, which has application in the review of brain imaging for diagnostic purposes for many organic diseases.
The study was at the stage of creating imaging in mice subjects. The Office of Research Integrity (ORI) reviewed the submissions found that Respondent intentionally, knowingly, and/or recklessly falsified two-photon microscopy and in vivo electrophysiological activity images, figure legends, and text descriptions of hippocampal neurons from a mouse running on a treadmill in a head-fixed virtual reality (VR) set up. The context of the images implied that these were new images as a part of the study, and this reuse was found to be deceptive and to infringe upon the candor requirements of the grant.
HHS and the researcher entered into a settlement with no admission of guilt, but the researcher will be subject to supervision by senior faculty.
