Scientific smear campaign?

An official misconduct investigation at the linkurl:Research Center Borstel;http://www.infection-research.de/who_is_who/institutions/detail/?tx_list_pi1[uid]=16&cHash=38590e0b1343baec04b94508ffa8e904 in Germany has been overshadowed by an anonymous effort distributing accusatory emails to scientists and journalists, and posting documents and allegations online.

Image: Wikimedia commons, michael fosu b.

In July, linkurl:Silvia Bulfone-Paus,;http://www.labome.org/expert/germany/research/bulfone-paus/silvia-bulfone-paus-908801.html head of the department of immunology and a member of the board of directors at Borstel, brought suspicions of data manipulation in several papers from her lab to the attention of officials, Ulrich Schaible, a member of the board of directors at Borstel told The Scientist. Subsequently, an external investigation committee was formed to look into potential misconduct in the lab. "This was formally all done how it should have been done," said Schaible.But also in July, around the same time as the formal investigation began, accusatory emails distributing information about linkurl:Bulfone-Paus;http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed?term=%22Bulfone-Paus%20S%22[Author] and details about suspect papers, such as evidence of manipulated figures, were sent by one "Marco Berns"...