Findings of Scientific Misconduct

[Federal Register Volume 64, Number 85 (Tuesday, May 4, 1999)]
[Notices]
[Page 23836]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 99-11120]


-----------------------------------------------------------------------

DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES

Office of the Secretary


Findings of Scientific Misconduct

AGENCY: Office of the Secretary, HHS.

ACTION: Notice.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------

SUMMARY: 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 The publication was retracted at 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.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Acting Director, Division of Research 
Investigations, Office of Research Integrity 5515 Security Lane, Suite 
700, Rockville, MD 20852, (301) 443-5330.
Chris B. Pascal,
Acting Director, Office of Research Integrity.
[FR Doc. 99-11120 Filed 5-3-99; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4160-17-P