[Federal Register Volume 61, Number 215 (Tuesday, November 5, 1996)]
[Notices]
[Pages 56962-56963]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 96-28374]


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DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES
Office of the Secretary


Findings of Scientific Misconduct

AGENCY: Office of the Secretary, HHS.

ACTION: Notice.

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SUMMARY: 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 (``Gq and 
Gy open two Bradykinin-gated potassium channels via a 
membrane-delimited pathway''). The research was supported by a grant

[[Page 56963]]

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 Gq, 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    The Journal of Neuroscience manuscript was withdrawn and was never 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.

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. 96-28374 Filed 11-4-96; 8:45 am]
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