[Federal Register Volume 62, Number 135 (Tuesday, July 15, 1997)]
[Notices]
[Pages 37921-37922]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 97-18453]
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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:
Amitav Hajra, University of Michigan: Based upon a report from the
University of Michigan, information obtained by the Office of Research
Integrity (ORI) during its oversight review, and Mr. Hajra's own
admission, ORI found that Mr. Hajra, former graduate student,
University of Michigan, engaged in scientific misconduct by falsifying
and fabricating research data in five published research papers, two
published review articles, one submitted but unpublished paper, in his
doctoral dissertation, and in a submission to the GenBank computer data
base. Mr. Hajra's doctoral training and research was supported by two
Public Health Service (PHS) grants, and his experiments were conducted
at and submitted for publication from the National Center for Human
Genome Research, National Institutes of Health (NIH).
Specifically, Mr. Hajra fabricated and falsified original research
in the following publications:
Hajra, A., Collins, F.S. ``Structure of the leukemia-
associated human CBFB gene.'' Genomics 26(3):571-579, 1995 (Retracted
in Genomics 38(1):107, 1996);
Hajra, A., Liu, P.P., Speck, N.A., Collins, F.S.
``Overexpression of core-binding factor (CBF)
reverses cellular transformation by the CBF-smooth muscle
myosin heavy chain chimeric oncoprotein.'' Molecular and Cellular
Biology 15(9):4980-4989, 1995;
Hajra, A., Liu, P.P., Wang, Q., Kelley, C.A., Stacy, T.,
Adelstein, R.S., Speck, N.A., and Collins, F.S. ``The leukemic core
binding factor -smooth muscle myosin heavy chain
(CBF-SMMHC) chimeric protein requires both CBF and
myosin heavy chain domains for transformation of NIH 3T3 cells.'' Proc.
Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 92(6):1926-1930, 1995;
Wijmenga, C., Gregory, P.E., Hajra, A., Schrock, E., Ried,
T., Eils, R., Liu, P.P., and Collins, F.S. ``Core binding factor
-smooth muscle myosin heavy chain chimeric protein involved in
acute myeloid leukemia forms unusual nuclear rod-like structures in
transformed NIH 3T3 cells.'' Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 93(4):1630-
1635, 1996; and
Liu, P.P., Wijmenga, C., Hajra, A., Blake, T.B., Kelley,
C.A., Adelstein, R.S., Bagg, A., Rector, J., Cotelingham, J., Willman,
C.L., and Collins, F.S. ``Identification of the chimeric protein
product of the CBFB-MYH11 fusion gene in inv(16) leukemia cells.''
Genes, Chromosomes, and Cancer 16:77-87, 1996 (Erratum in Genes,
Chromosomes, and Cancer 18(1):71, 1997).
Mr. Hajra included fabricated and falsified data in the following
review articles:
Hajra, A., Liu, P.P., and Collins, F.S. ``Transforming
properties of the leukemic Inv(16) fusion gene CBFB-MYH11.'' In
Molecular Aspects of Myeloid Stem Cell Development in Current Topics in
Microbiology and Immunology (L. Wolff and A.S. Perkins, Eds.) 211:289-
298, 1996 (Review). Berlin and New York: Springer-Verlag; and
Liu, P.P., Hajra, A., Wijmenga, C., and Collins, F.S.
``Molecular pathogenesis of the chromosome 16 inversion in the M4Eo
subtype of acute myeloid leukemia.'' Blood 85:2289-2302, 1995 (Review).
Mr. Hajra submitted a fabricated nucleotide sequence in computer
data base entry U22149, ``Human leukemia-associated core binding factor
subunit CBFbeta (CBFB) gene, promoter region and partial CDs.'' GenBank
(NCBI, NLM, NIH), March 3, 1995 (withdrawn). He also fabricated the
majority of data reported in his dissertation (Hajra, A.
``Transformation properties of the leukemic CBF-SMMHC chimeric
protein.'' Dissertation, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI, 1995),
and he fabricated and falsified original research data in a submitted
but unpublished manuscript (Hajra, A., Liu, P.P., Itoh, K., Kelley,
C.A., Speck, N.A., Adelstein, R.S., and Collins, F.S. ``Myosin heavy
chain properties necessary for cellular transformation by the leukemic
CBF-SMMHC oncoprotein,'' submitted for publication to Oncogene
on November 29, 1995, and on May 15, 1996).
Mr. Hajra has accepted the ORI finding and has entered into a
Voluntary Exclusion Agreement with ORI in which he has voluntarily
agreed, for the four (4) year period beginning July 7, 1997, to exclude
himself from:
[[Page 37922]]
(1) 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 CFR Part 76 (Debarment
Regulations);
(2) 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.
Mr. Hajra agreed to request or cooperate in requesting the
retraction or correction of those research publications that have not
already been corrected or retracted. He also agreed to notify the
relevant editors of the affected review articles that the articles
cannot be relied upon.
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. 97-18453 Filed 7-14-97; 8:45 am]
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