The University of Missouri has opened an inquiry into whether researchers in the biochemistry department there manipulated images published in a February 2006 article in Science. The data, which were produced by postdocs in R. Michael Roberts' laboratory, challenged the conventional theory that individual blastomeres in early embryos are identical.
The inquiry centers around whether two images in the paper were altered to misrepresent the data, Roberts told The Scientist. "It's been a nightmare," he said. "This is a very difficult and painful time for people in the lab." Roberts said that the paper may ultimately have to be withdrawn.
Last month, Science editor-in-chief Donald Kennedy issued an editorial expression of concern cautioning readers that the results reported in the paper "may not be reliable." "We're anxious to bring this to an end as soon as possible," Robert Hall, associate vice chancellor for research at the University of Missouri, told ...
