[Federal Register Volume 71, Number 62 (Friday, March 31, 2006)]
[Notices]
[Pages 16308-16309]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: E6-4688]


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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 on February 28, 2006, the 
Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Debarring Official, on 
behalf of the Secretary of HHS, issued a final notice of debarment 
based on the scientific misconduct findings of the U.S. Public Health 
Service (PHS) in the following case:
    Susan M. Aronica, PhD, Indiana University Purdue University 
Indianapolis: Based on the evidence and findings of an investigation 
report by Indiana University Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI) and 
additional analysis conducted by the Office of Research Integrity (ORI) 
in its oversight review, ORI found that Susan M. Aronica, Ph.D., former 
Postdoctoral Student/Fellow, IUPUI, committed 21 acts of scientific 
misconduct by knowingly and intentionally falsifying and fabricating 
data in her notebooks, in 17 figures and figure panels, in two tables 
published in the Journal of Biological Chemistry (J. Biol. Chem. 
270:21998-22007, 1995) and Blood (Blood 89:3582-3595, 1997), and in two 
figures in a manuscript submitted for publication to Blood in August 
1997.
    ORI issued a charge letter enumerating the above findings of 
scientific misconduct. However, Dr. Aronica requested a hearing to 
dispute these findings to the Departmental Appeals Board. Based upon 
the insufficiency of Dr. Aronica's hearing request, ORI filed a Motion 
to Dismiss.
    On February 10, 2006, the Administrative Law Judge (ALJ) ruled in 
ORI's favor by dismissing Dr. Aronica's request for a hearing. ORI's 
research misconduct regulation specifically delineates the requisite 
content for an acceptable hearing request. A sustainable hearing 
request must admit or deny each finding of research misconduct, and 
each denial must be detailed and substantive. 42 CFR 93.501(c). Dr. 
Aronica's hearing request contained only a general denial of the 
proposed findings. The regulation states that a general denial is not 
sufficient to establish a genuine dispute. 42 CFR 93.503. The 
regulation also states that the ALJ must dismiss a hearing request if 
the respondent does not raise a genuine dispute over facts or law 
material to the research misconduct findings. 42 CFR 93.504(a)(2). The 
ALJ concluded that the determination of whether the hearing request 
raises a genuine dispute is a threshold jurisdictional determination. 
Thus, the ALJ decided that Dr. Aronica's request did not show a genuine 
dispute, because it did not specifically deny any allegation. As a 
result, the ALJ concluded that Dr. Aronica's hearing request could not 
be granted, but was required to be dismissed pursuant to 42 CFR 
93.504(a)(2).
    Specifically, ORI found that Dr. Aronica falsified and fabricated 
data in:
     Figures 1, 2, 3, 4, 5A, 5B, 5C, 6A, and 6B, and Tables III 
and IV in: Aronica, S.M., Mantel, C., Gonin, R., Marshall, M.S., 
Sarris, A., Cooper, S.,

[[Page 16309]]

Hague, N., Zhang, X., & Broxmeyer, H.E. ``Interferon-inducible Protein 
10 and Macrophage Inflammatory Protein-1 [alpha] Inhibit Growth Factor 
Stimulation of Raf-1 Kinase Activity and Protein Synthesis in a Human 
Growth Factor-dependent Hematopoietic Cell Line.'' JBC 270:21998-22007, 
1995 (September 15) (``JBC paper'').
     Figures 1 (both panels), 3A, 3B, 3D, 3E, 4A, and 8A in: 
Aronica, S.M., Gingras, A.C., Sonenberg, N., Cooper, S., Hague, N., & 
Broxmeyer, H.E. ``Macrophage Inflammatory Protein-1 [alpha] and 
Interferon-inducible Protein 10 Inhibit Synergistically Induced Growth 
Factor Stimulation of MAP Kinase Activity and Suppress Phosphorylation 
of Eukaryotic Initiation Factor 4E and 4E Binding Protein 1.'' Blood 
89:3582-3595, 1997 (May 15) (``Blood paper'').
     Figures 1B and 2B in: Aronica, S.M., Reid, S.L., & 
Broxmeyer, H.E. ``Chemokine Inhibition of Stress-Activated Kinase 
Activity in a Human Hematopoietic Cell Line.'' Blood, submitted August 
4, 1997 (``Blood manuscript'').
    The research was supported by or reported in the following U.S. 
Public Health Service (PHS) grants from the National Institute of 
Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases (NIDDK) and the National 
Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI) of the National Institutes of 
Health:
     RO1 HL49202, ``Myeloid Regulation by Growth-Suppressing 
Cytokines.''
     R01 HL54037, ``Stem Cell Transduction of SLF/FLT-3-Ligand 
Genes by AAV.''
     R01 HL56416, ``Mechanisms of Synergistic Regulation of 
Stem/Progenitors.''
     T32 DK07519, ``Regulation of Hematopoietic Cell 
Production.''
    The following administrative actions have been implemented:
    (1) Dr. Aronica has been debarred from any contracting or 
subcontracting with any agency of the United States Government and from 
eligibility or involvement in nonprocurement programs of the United 
States Government referred to as ``covered transactions'' as defined in 
the debarment regulations at 45 CFR part 76 for a period of five (5) 
years, beginning on February 10, 2006;
    (2) Dr. Aronica 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 consultant for a 
period of five (5) years, beginning on February 10, 2006; and
    (3) Within 60 days of February 10, 2006, the authors of the 
following papers will be requested to submit a letter to the editors of 
Journal of Biological Chemistry and Blood, requesting their retraction 
of:
     Aronica, S.M., Mantel, C., Gonin, R., Marshall, M., 
Sarris, A., Cooper, S., Hague, N., Zhang, X-f., & Broxmeyer, H.E. 
``Interferon-Inducible Protein 10 and Macrophage Inflammatory Protein-1 
[alpha] inhibit Growth Factor Stimulation of Raf-1 Kinase Activity and 
Protein Synthesis in a Human Growth Factor-Dependent Hematopoietic Cell 
Line.'' J. Biol. Chem. 270:21998-22007, 1995.
     Aronica, S.M., Gingras, A.-C., Sonenberg, N., Cooper, S., 
Hague, N., and Broxmeyer, H.E. ``Macrophage Inflammatory Protein-1 
[alpha] and Interferon-Inducible Protein 10 Inhibit Synergistically 
Induced Growth Factor Stimulation of MAP Kinase Activity and Suppress 
Phosphorylation of Eukaryotic Initiation Factor 4E and 4 
Binding Protein 1.'' Blood 89:3582-3595, 1997.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Director, Division of Investigative 
Oversight, Office of Research Integrity, 1101 Wootton Parkway, Suite 
750, Rockville, MD 20852. (240) 453-8800.

Chris B. Pascal,
Director, Office of Research Integrity.
 [FR Doc. E6-4688 Filed 3-30-06; 8:45 am]
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