[Federal Register Volume 76, Number 28 (Thursday, February 10, 2011)]
[Notices]
[Pages 7568-7569]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2011-2975]


=======================================================================
-----------------------------------------------------------------------

DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES

Office of the Secretary


Findings of Research Misconduct

AGENCY: Office of the Secretary, HHS.

ACTION: Notice.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------

SUMMARY: Notice is hereby given that the Office of Research Integrity 
(ORI)

[[Page 7569]]

has taken final action in the following case:
    Meleik Goodwill, Ph.D., Wadsworth Center, N.Y.S. Department of 
Health: Based on the Wadsworth Center report and the oversight review 
conducted by the Office of Research Integrity (ORI), the U.S. Public 
Health Service (PHS) found that Meleik Goodwill, Ph.D., former 
postdoctoral fellow, Wadsworth Center, N.Y.S. Department of Health, 
engaged in research misconduct in research supported by National 
Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS), National Institutes 
of Health (NIH), grant R21 ES013269-02.
    Specifically, PHS found that the Respondent engaged in research 
misconduct by the fabrication of data for growth curves presented in 
Figure 1 in the 2007 Journal of Neuroimmunology article (Goodwill, 
M.K., Lawrence, D.A., & Seegal, R.F. ``Polychlorinated biphenyls induce 
proinflammatory cytokine release and dopaminergic dysfunction: 
Protection in interleukin-6 knockout mice.'' Journal of Neuroimmunology 
183(1-2):125-132, 2007), and by the use of composite images of Western-
blot bands from unrelated experiments done in 2005 that were falsely 
labeled as if from different experiments to construct Figure 4A in the 
2007 Journal of Neuroimmunology article. Figure 4B of the article also 
was falsified by use of identical sets of number for different 
treatments. The 2007 Journal of Neuroimmunology article was retracted 
in J. Neuroimmunol. 197(1):197, 2008.
    Dr. Goodwill has entered into a Voluntary Settlement Agreement in 
which she has voluntarily agreed, for a period of three (3) years, 
beginning on January 21, 2011:

    (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 her in any capacity on PHS-
supported research, or that submits a report of PHS-funded research 
in which she is involved, must concurrently submit a plan for 
supervision of her duties to ORI for approval; the supervisory plan 
must be designed to ensure the scientific integrity of her research 
contribution; Respondent agrees that she will not participate in any 
PHS-supported research until such a supervisory plan is submitted to 
ORI;
    (2) That any institution employing her submits, in conjunction 
with each application for PHS funds, or report, manuscript, or 
abstract involving PHS-funded research in which she was involved, a 
certification to ORI that the data provided are based on actual 
experiments or are otherwise legitimately derived and that the data, 
procedures, and methodology are accurately reported in the 
application or report; and
    (3) To exclude herself voluntarily from service 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, (240) 453-8800.

John Dahlberg,
Director, Division of Investigative Oversight, Office of Research 
Integrity.
[FR Doc. 2011-2975 Filed 2-9-11; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4150-31-P