[Federal Register Volume 73, Number 238 (Wednesday, December 10, 2008)]
[Notices]
[Pages 75119-75120]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: E8-29203]


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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:
    Homer D. Venters, Jr., M.D., University of Illinois at Urbana-
Champaign: Based on the report of an investigation conducted by the 
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (UIUC) and extensive 
additional image analysis conducted by the Office of Research Integrity 
(ORI), the U.S. Public Health Service (PHS) found that Dr. Homer D. 
Venters, former graduate student, Neuroscience Program, UIUC, engaged 
in scientific misconduct in research supported by National Institute of 
Mental Health (NIMH), National Institutes of Health (NIH), awards R01 
MH051569 and F30 MH12558 and National Institute on Aging (NIA), NIH, 
award R01 AG06246.
    Specifically, PHS found that the Respondent committed misconduct in 
science:
     By intentionally and knowingly preparing and including 
duplicate image data in Figures 5 and 10 of PHS fellowship application 
F31 MH12558, ``Neurodegeneration via TNF-alpha inhibition of IGF-1,'' 
submitted in 1999, which was funded as F30 MH12558 from June 1, 2000, 
to May 31, 2003. Because the duplicate data were labeled as having been 
obtained from different experiments, the results for at least one of 
the two figures were intentionally falsified and constitute an act of 
scientific misconduct.
     By intentionally and knowingly preparing and including 
duplicate image data in Figure 3 and/or 4 of a manuscript submitted and 
published as: Venters, H.D., et al. ``A New Mechanism of 
Neurodegeneration: A Proinflammatory Cytokine Inhibits Receptor 
Signaling by a Survival Peptide.'' Proceedings of the National Academy 
of Sciences U.S.A. 96:9879-9884, 1999.
     By preparing and providing to his dissertation committee 
in March 2000 a thesis proposal entitled ``An Alternate Mechanism of 
Neurodegeneration: Silencing of Insulin-like Growth Factor-I survival 
signals by Tumor Necrosis Factor-[alpha],'' which contained five 
falsified figures: Figures 1.3, 1.4a, 2.1b, 2.3e, and 2.5b. In each 
figure, he reused data within the same figure or in another thesis 
proposal figure as representing differently treated samples or as data 
obtained with different immunoblotting antisera.
     In March and April 2001, Respondent included several of 
the same falsified figures as in the thesis proposal and multiple 
additional falsified figures in his dissertation ``Silencing of 
Insulin-like Growth Factor I Neuronal Survival Signals by Tumor 
Necrosis Factor-[alpha].'' In all, Figures 3.3, 3.4a, 3.4b, 4.1b, 4.3a, 
4.5b, 5.1a, 5.2, 5.4a, 5.5a, 5.6a, 5.7a, and 5.8a were falsified. In 
each instance, he assembled figures by reusing significant data, on 
some occasions after manipulating the orientation of the data, either 
within the same figure or in other figures related to his thesis and 
represented the data falsely as coming from different samples or 
different experiments.
    Dr. Venters has entered into a Voluntary Settlement Agreement

[[Page 75120]]

(Agreement) in which he has voluntarily agreed, for a period of three 
(3) years, beginning on November 19, 2008:
    (1) That any institution that submits an application for PHS 
support for a research project on which the Respondent's participation 
is proposed or that uses the Respondent in any capacity on PHS-
supported research, or that submits a report of PHS-funded research in 
which the Respondent is involved, must concurrently submit a plan for 
monitoring of the Respondent's research to the funding agency and ORI 
for approval; the monitoring plan must be designed to ensure the 
scientific integrity of the Respondent's research contribution; 
Respondent agreed that he will not participate in any PHS-supported 
research until such a monitoring plan is submitted to ORI and the 
funding agency;
    (2) That Respondent will ensure that any institution employing him 
will submit to ORI, in conjunction with each application for PHS funds 
or report, manuscript, or abstract of PHS-funded research in which the 
Respondent is involved, a certification that the data provided by the 
Respondent are based on actual experiments or are otherwise 
legitimately derived, and that the data analyses, procedures, and 
methodology are accurately reported in the application or report; 
Respondent must ensure that the institution sends a copy of each 
certification to ORI; and
    (3) To exclude himself 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 or 
contractor to PHS.
    Respondent also voluntarily agreed that within 30 days of the 
effective date of this Agreement:
    (4) He will submit a letter to the journal editor, with copies to 
his coauthors, identifying his falsification of Figures 3 and/or 4 in 
the following article: Venters et al. ``A New Mechanism of 
Neurodegeneration: A Proinflammatory Cytokine Inhibits Receptor 
Signaling by a Survival Peptide.'' Proceedings of the National Academy 
of Sciences 96:9879-9884, 1999.

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. E8-29203 Filed 12-9-08; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4150-31-P