FINDINGS OF SCIENTIFIC MISCONDUCT

Release Date:  May 11, 1999  

P.T.

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:

Chang-Fen Huang, Ph.D., State University of New York at Stony Brook (SUNY-SB): 
Based on an investigation conducted by SUNY-SB dated December 18, 1997, ORI
finds that
Dr. Huang, former graduate student, Department of Biochemistry, SUNY-SB,
engaged in scientific misconduct in the reporting and conducting of research
supported by a grant from the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and
Stroke (NINDS), National Institutes of Health (NIH).

Specifically, ORI finds that:

(1) Dr. Huang falsely mislabeled and relabeled six autoradiographs of Northern
blots (ARG) that she had obtained from earlier unrelated experiments to make
them appear to have come from several different and separate experiments.

(2) For one of the sets noted in (1) above, Dr. Huang falsified and
misrepresented portions of the ARG in panel B of figure 1, in C.F. Huang et
al. "Depolarization-transcription signals in skeletal muscle use calcium flux
through L channels, but bypass the sarcoplasmic reticulum." Neuron 13:167-177,
1994.  Figure 1B purported to show the effect of electrical activity on the
expression of genes for subunits of the acetyl choline receptor, but actually
used data derived from a separate and unrelated experiment showing the effect
of phorbol esters on the expression of the myogenin gene that had been
previously reported in an unrelated publication.  The publication was
retracted at Neuron 13(1):1294, 1998.

(3) For one of the sets noted in (1) above, Dr. Huang falsified and
misrepresented Figure VII/7, an aggregate ARG, on page 159 of her
dissertation, "Studies of the Signaling Pathway Coupling Membrane
Depolarization and AchR Gene Inactivation in Chick Skeletal Muscle," December
1993.  The figure reported the effect of a set of calcium-active agents on the
sarcoplasmic reticulum that were different from those studied for the original
ARG.

Dr. Huang 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 April 20, 1999:

(1) to exclude herself from any contracting or subcontracting with any agency
of the United States Government and from eligibility for, or involvement in,
nonprocurement transactions (e.g., grants and cooperative agreements) of the
United States Government as defined in 45 C.F.R. Part 76 (Debarment
Regulations); and

(2) to 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.

INQUIRIES

For further information contact:

Acting Director
Division of Research Investigations
Office of Research Integrity
5515 Security Lane, Suite 700
Rockville, MD  20852
Telephone:  (301) 443-5330

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