Duke investigating misconduct?

Written byAndrea Gawrylewski

| 2 min read

The Duke University Medical Center has agreed to conduct an inquiry into allegations of misconduct against Duke protein biochemist linkurl:Homme Hellinga,;http://www.biochem.duke.edu/faculty/homme-hellinga according to a linkurl:letter;http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v454/n7203/full/454397b.html Hellinga wrote to Nature, which was published in the journal this week. Hellinga retracted two papers earlier this year that claimed to have redesigned ribose-binding protein (RBP) to catalyze triose phosphate isomerase (TIM) activity -- a reaction crucial to glycolysis in almost all types of cells. The retractions came after biochemist John Richard, from the State University of New York, Buffalo, tried to replicate the experiments and found that the enzymatic activity of the proteins was from wild-type contamination. In follow up linkurl:letters;http://www.sciencemag.org/cgi/eletters/319/5863/569b published in Science, Richard and another biochemist, John Kirsch from the University of California, Berkeley, wrote that Hellinga's retraction letters did not satisfactorily explain what went wrong in the initial experiments. An linkurl:article;http://www.nature.com/news/2008/080514/full/453275a.html in Nature's news section in May further investigated those claims. (For more on this, read our coverage linkurl:here);http://www.the-scientist.com/blog/display/54502/ In his letter this week, Hellinga writes that Nature's coverage of the retractions and the events following has led to misunderstanding. He wrote: "As my actions have been called into question, I have asked the Duke University Medical Center administration to hold a formal and impartial inquiry into these retractions and the events that have followed. My request has been granted by the university." Hellinga did not respond to an Email and two phone calls requesting comment. Duke University Medical Center refused to confirm or deny that an investigation was underway, but sent a statement to The Scientist that said: "Duke is committed to nurturing and supporting the highest quality science and we review all allegations concerning research integrity according to established procedures. We trust that you and your readers will understand that it would be inappropriate for Duke to comment on any specific proceedings due to confidentiality and other restrictions."

Duke investigating misconduct?

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