[Federal Register Volume 83, Number 71 (Thursday, April 12, 2018)]
[Notices]
[Pages 15851-15852]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2018-07521]


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DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES

Office of the Secretary


Findings of Research Misconduct

AGENCY: Office of the Secretary, HHS.

ACTION: Notice.

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SUMMARY: Findings of research misconduct have been made on the part of 
Brandi M. Baughman, Ph.D., postdoctoral fellow in the Center for 
Integrative Chemical Biology and Drug Discovery, Division of Chemical 
Biology and Medicinal Chemistry, University of North Carolina at Chapel 
Hill (UNC). Dr. Baughman engaged in research misconduct in research 
supported by National Institute of General Medical Sciences (NIGMS), 
National Institutes of Health (NIH), grant R01 GM100919. The 
administrative actions, including debarment for a period of two (2) 
years, were implemented beginning on March 19, 2018, and are detailed 
below.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Wanda K. Jones, Dr. P.H., Interim 
Director, Office of Research Integrity, 1101 Wootton Parkway, Suite 
750, Rockville, MD 20852, (240) 453-8200.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Notice is hereby given that the Office of 
Research Integrity (ORI) has taken final action in the following case:
    Brandi M. Baughman, Ph.D., University of North Carolina at Chapel 
Hill: Based on an assessment conducted by UNC, Respondent's admission, 
and analysis conducted by ORI in its oversight review, ORI found that 
Dr. Baughman, postdoctoral fellow in the Center for Integrative 
Chemical Biology and Drug Discovery, Division of Chemical Biology and 
Medicinal Chemistry, UNC, engaged in research misconduct in research 
supported by NIGMS, NIH, grant R01 GM100919. A previous notice of 
research misconduct findings based on Respondent's prior admission 
(Fed. Reg. 82(117):28078-28079, 2017 July 20) included eleven (11) 
figures in PLoS One 11(10):e0164378, 2016 in research supported by the 
National Institute of Environmental and Health Sciences (NIEHS), NIH, 
and the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney 
Diseases (NIDDK), NIH. The Respondent has signed a statement confirming 
that she committed no additional instances of data manipulation.
    ORI found that Respondent engaged in research misconduct by 
falsifying data that were included in the first submission of a 
manuscript to ACS Chem. Biol. (hereafter referred to as the 
``Manuscript'') and in the final published version: Baughman, B.M., 
Pattenden, S.G., Norris, J.L., James, L.I., & Frye, S.V. ``The L3MBTL3 
methyl-lysine reader domain functions as a dimer.'' ACS Chem. Biol. 
11:722-728, 2016 (hereafter referred to as ``ACS 2016''). The paper was 
retracted in: ACS Chem. Biol. 13(1):281, 2018 Jan 19.
    Respondent falsely reused and relabeled 14 individual Western blot 
images from an unrelated experiment conducted in September 2013 showing 
pulldown with biotin-UNC1215 using 0401 and HeLa overexpressed FL 
L3MBTL3 lysates (hereafter referred to as the ``9/13 experiment'') to 
falsely represent Western blot analysis of GFP.Flag co-IP experiments 
in GFP-WT lysates in Figure 3 of the Manuscript and a supplementary 
analysis of co-IPs with FullL-D274A in Figure 6 of ASC 2016. 
Specifically, Respondent used Western blot band images from:
     Lanes 3 and 4 (GFP input and GFP Bn-1215 IP; 9/13 
experiment) to represent:

[[Page 15852]]

    [cir] Lanes 1 and 2 (GFP:FLAG co-IP experiments in 3MBT-GFP lysates 
in the presence or absence of D381A; Figure 3, Manuscript)
    [cir] N = 3 in Figure S6, ACS 2016
     Lanes 5 and 6 (GFP/Flag Input and GFP/FlagIP; 9/13 
experiment) to represent:
    [cir] Lanes 3 and 4 (GFP:Flag co-IP experiments in FL-GFP-WT 
lysates; Figure 3, Manuscript)
    [cir] N = 1 in Figure S6, ACS 2016
     Lanes 9 and 10 (mCherry input and mCherry Bn-1215 IP; 9/13 
experiment) to represent:
    [cir] Lanes 5 and 6 (GFP:FLAG co-IP experiments in FL-GFP lysates 
in the presence or absence of D381A; Figure 3, Manuscript)
     Lanes 11 and 12 (mCherry/Flag input and mCherry/Flag IP; 
9/13 experiment) to represent:
    [cir] Lanes 7 and 8 (GFP:FLAG co-IP experiments in FL-GFP WT 
lysates; Figure 3, Manuscript)
     lanes 13 and 14 (mCherry/Flag IP unbound and mCherry/Flag 
BN-1215; 9/13 experiment) to represent:
    [cir] Lanes 9 and 10 (GFP:FLAG co-IP experiments in FL-GFP lysates 
in the presence or absence of D274A; Figure 3, manuscript
    [cir] N = 2 in Figure S6, ACS 2016
    Dr. Baughman entered into a Voluntary Exclusion Agreement. The 
following administrative actions have been implemented for a period of 
two (2) years, beginning on March 19, 2018:
    (1) Because Dr. Baughman knew when she signed the 2017 Agreement 
with ORI that there was an additional paper with falsified figures, she 
agreed to exclude herself voluntarily 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'' pursuant to 
HHS' Implementation (2 CFR part 376) of OMB Guidelines to Agencies on 
Governmentwide Debarment and Suspension, 2 CFR part 180 (collectively 
the ``Debarment Regulations''); this Agreement supersedes the terms of 
the previous supervision Agreement that included three (3) years of 
research supervision, which began on May 17, 2017; and
    (2) Dr. Baughman agreed to exclude herself voluntarily from serving 
in any advisory capacity to the U.S. 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.

Wanda K. Jones,
Interim Director, Office of Research Integrity.
[FR Doc. 2018-07521 Filed 4-11-18; 8:45 am]
 BILLING CODE 4150-31-P