[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published review articles, one submitted but unpublished paper, in his 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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