[Federal Register Volume 68, Number 151 (Wednesday, August 6, 2003)]
[Notices]
[Page 46642]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 03-19947]


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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) and the Assistant Secretary for Health have taken final action in 
the following case:
    Thonthi Karunakaran, Boston Medical Center: Based on the report of 
an investigation conducted by Boston Medical Center (BMC Report) and 
additional analysis performed by ORI in its oversight review, the U.S. 
Public Health Service (PHS) found that Thonthi Karunakaran, Ph.D., 
former Research Scientist at BMC, engaged in scientific misconduct by 
plagiarizing, falsifying, and fabricating research that he reported to 
his supervisor for the project ``Hemin Utilization by Porphyromonas 
gingivalis,'' funded by National Institute of Dental and Craniofacial 
Research, (NIDCR), National Institutes of Health (NIH), grant R01 
DE09161-11.
    Specifically, PHS found that Dr. Karunakaran engaged in scientific 
misconduct by:
    (1) Plagiarizing a P. gingivalis strain W83 DNA sequence from an 
Internet database and misrepresenting to his supervisor that the 
Internet database printout represented his own cloning and sequencing 
of strain A7436 fur gene X;
    (2) Fabricating the claim to have obtained sequence data for a 
strain A7436 cloned fur gene X from a sequencing facility at 
Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT); and
    (3) Falsifying unrelated sequencing data from a graduate student's 
notebook in the laboratory by trimming off the identifying header and 
misrepresenting it to his supervisor as primary data from his 
sequencing of the A7436 fur gene X.
    There were no published papers that required correction or 
retraction.
    The following administrative actions have been implemented for a 
period of three (3) years, beginning on July 17, 2003:
    (1) Dr. Karunakaran is debarred from eligibility for or involvement 
in Federal covered transactions (i.e., any Federal transaction other 
than a procurement transaction) and from contracting or subcontracting 
with any Federal government agency; this action is being taken pursuant 
to the debarment regulation pertaining to grants and other forms of 
assistance (45 CFR part 76); and
    (2) Dr. Karunakaran is prohibited from serving in any advisory 
capacity to 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: Director, Division of Investigative 
Oversight, Office of Research Integrity, 1101 Wootton Parkway, Suite 
750, Rockville, MD 20852, (301) 443-5330.

Lawrence J. Rhoades,
Acting Director, Office of Research Integrity.
[FR Doc. 03-19947 Filed 8-5-03; 8:45 am]
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