University of Washington School of Medicine researcher Andrew Aprikyan was fired for misconduct last Friday (May 21) after a judge denied his petition to delay such action until the case, which has been under investigation for more than 7 years, was reviewed further.
Aprikyan's work on inherited blood diseases has been under investigation since 2003, after errors in some of the digital images of a paper he published in Blood were identified. During the past 7 years, Aprikyan has been investigated for misconduct, both by the university and the Office of Research Integrity (ORI), according to The Seattle Times, during which time he has stayed employed by the university, published 11 papers, and collected hundreds of thousands of dollars in grant funding.
The judge's decision last week is "disappointing," Aprikyan told The Scientist in an email. Aprikyan acknowledges the errors in the images, but denies any intentional wrongdoing, chalking it ...
