FINDINGS OF SCIENTIFIC MISCONDUCT 

NIH GUIDE, Volume 25, Number 39, November 15, 1996

 

P.T. 34



Keywords:

  Ethics/Values in Science & Technol 

  Grants Administration/Policy+ 

 

Department of Health and Human Services

 

Notice is hereby given that the Office of Research Integrity (ORI)

has made a final finding of scientific misconduct in the following

case:

 

Melissa A. Harrington, University of Texas Southwestern Medical

Center:  Based upon an investigation conducted by the University of

Texas Southwestern Medical Center, information obtained by ORI during

its oversight review, and Dr. Harrington's own admission, ORI found

that Melissa A. Harrington, Ph.D., former postdoctoral research

fellow, Department of Pharmacology at the University of Texas

Southwestern Medical Center, engaged in scientific misconduct by

falsifying the methodology and figures in a manuscript that was

accepted for publication in the Journal of Neuroscience (~G`q and G~~

open two Bradykinin-gated potassium channels via a membrane-delimited

pathway~).  The research was supported by a grant from the National

Institute of General Medical Sciences (NIGMS), National Institutes of

Health (NIH).

 

Specifically, ORI found that Dr. Harrington had (1) falsely described

the addition of GDP to a G-protein subunit buffer, when she had

omitted it from some of the experiments; (2) falsified three figures

(a) by falsely depicting the course of an electrophysiological

response as being due to a combination of two substances that had not

been combined and (b) by falsely representing a single channel

current record as being an example of a distinct channel type that

was elicited by the substance G`q, which had not been added prior to

the recording; and

(3) intentionally incorporated the falsified data from the

experiments in which GDP had been omitted into her statistical

descriptions.

 

The Journal of Neuroscience manuscript was withdrawn and was never

published.

 

Dr. Harrington has accepted the ORI finding and has entered into a

Voluntary Exclusion Agreement with ORI in which she has voluntarily

agreed, for the three (3) year period beginning October 23, 1996:

 

(1) to voluntarily exclude herself from serving in any advisory

capacity to the Public Health Service (PHS), including but not

limited to service on any PHS advisory committee, board, and/or peer

review committee, or as a consultant; and

 

(2) that any institution that submits an application for PHS support

for a research project on which the respondent's participation is

proposed or which uses the respondent in any capacity on PHS

supported research must concurrently submit a plan for supervision of

her duties.  The supervisory plan must be designed to ensure the

scientific integrity of the respondent's research contribution.  The

institution must submit a copy of the supervisory plan to ORI.

 

INQUIRIES

 

For further information, contact:

 

Director, Division of Research Investigations

Office of Research Integrity

5515 Security Lane, Suite 700

Rockville, MD  20852

Telephone:  (301) 443-5330

 

.

Return to 1996 Index

Return to NIH Guide Main Index

	Office of Extramural Research (OER)			National Institutes of Health (NIH) 9000 Rockville Pike Bethesda, Maryland 20892			Department of Health and Human Services (HHS)