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   Boris Barbour (borisbarbour@mastodon.social)'s status on Monday, 30-Sep-2024 18:58:44 JST Boris Barbour

   • Science Magazine

   A few comments on the Masliah affair revealed by Charles Piller and colleagues in @sciencemagazine It's a genuine scoop.

   https://www.science.org/content/article/research-misconduct-finding-neuroscientist-eliezer-masliah-papers-under-suspicion

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     Boris Barbour (borisbarbour@mastodon.social)'s status on Monday, 30-Sep-2024 18:58:43 JST Boris Barbour

     in reply to

     His work also generated treatment strategies that are the subject of multiple clinical trials, with large sums of money at stake. It is likely that Masliah is by now a wealthy man and, at 65, came close to wrapping up a career without being inconvenienced.

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     Boris Barbour (borisbarbour@mastodon.social)'s status on Monday, 30-Sep-2024 18:58:43 JST Boris Barbour

     in reply to

     Yet the investigation reports that a huge fraction of Masliah's papers contain image manipulations. So far 1 in 6 of his papers spanning 27 years have been flagged, and many have not yet been checked.

     Haelwenn /элвэн/ :triskell: likes this.
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     Boris Barbour (borisbarbour@mastodon.social)'s status on Monday, 30-Sep-2024 18:58:44 JST Boris Barbour

     in reply to

     By all measures, Masliah is totally central to research on neurodegeneration. A very successful career at UCSD with 800 publications and 18k citations, then occupying the hugely influential position of the head of the Division of Neuroscience of the National Institute on Aging.

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     Boris Barbour (borisbarbour@mastodon.social)'s status on Monday, 30-Sep-2024 18:59:12 JST Boris Barbour

     in reply to

     His lab has a systemic problem and it undermines confidence in all his work: people don't cheat if it's unnecessary. For the innocent in the audience, to prove me wrong, you will need to check the original data. Good luck with that under NIH's risible 4-year retention rule!

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     Boris Barbour (borisbarbour@mastodon.social)'s status on Monday, 30-Sep-2024 18:59:12 JST Boris Barbour

     in reply to

     First big question. How did nobody in a lab operating in this way for 26 years and producing 800 papers raise an alert? If your data are altered, you notice. Were junior members systematically intimidated? Throughout their subsequent careers?

     Haelwenn /элвэн/ :triskell: likes this.