Gel Drama

A mysterious case of proteomics plagiarism leads to an odd timeline for a retraction.

| 1 min read

Register for free to listen to this article
Listen with Speechify
0:00
1:00
Share

A damaged protein gelWIKIMEDIA, OPTMIAL TWEEZERSRetractions rarely provide simple answers to the misconduct that precedes them. Such is the case with a retraction highlighted by Retraction Watch last week (February 20), regarding a proteomics gel printed twice in the same journal. The twist is that first article published contained the fake.

The journal Proteomics issued a retraction for a 2005 paper that contained a gel copied from the manuscript of a laboratory that ultimately published its own research containing the same gel image in 2006. This second group, the rightful owners of the image, had first submitted their work in 2002, but faced two rejections before finally getting it published.

“The sequence suggests the possibility that the 2005 paper’s authors had access to the paper eventually published in 2006—after being rejected, it turns out—but there’s no proof of that,” wrote Ivan Oransky at Retraction Watch. The complete saga, including comments from the authors involved and the editors at Proteomics are described in a feature article in Lab Times, A News Magazine for the Eurpean Life Scientist.

...

Interested in reading more?

Become a Member of

The Scientist Logo
Receive full access to more than 35 years of archives, as well as TS Digest, digital editions of The Scientist, feature stories, and much more!
Already a member? Login Here

Keywords

Meet the Author

  • Edyta Zielinska

    This person does not yet have a bio.
Share
3D illustration of a gold lipid nanoparticle with pink nucleic acid inside of it. Purple and teal spikes stick out from the lipid bilayer representing polyethylene glycol.
February 2025, Issue 1

A Nanoparticle Delivery System for Gene Therapy

A reimagined lipid vehicle for nucleic acids could overcome the limitations of current vectors.

View this Issue
Enhancing Therapeutic Antibody Discovery with Cross-Platform Workflows

Enhancing Therapeutic Antibody Discovery with Cross-Platform Workflows

sartorius logo
Considerations for Cell-Based Assays in Immuno-Oncology Research

Considerations for Cell-Based Assays in Immuno-Oncology Research

Lonza
An illustration of animal and tree silhouettes.

From Water Bears to Grizzly Bears: Unusual Animal Models

Taconic Biosciences
Sex Differences in Neurological Research

Sex Differences in Neurological Research

bit.bio logo

Products

Photo of a researcher overseeing large scale production processes in a laboratory.

Scaling Lentiviral Vector Manufacturing for Optimal Productivity

Thermo Fisher Logo
Collage-style urban graphic of wastewater surveillance and treatment

Putting Pathogens to the Test with Wastewater Surveillance

An illustration of an mRNA molecule in front of a multicolored background.

Generating High-Quality mRNA for In Vivo Delivery with lipid nanoparticles

Thermo Fisher Logo
Tecan Logo

Tecan introduces Veya: bringing digital, scalable automation to labs worldwide