[Federal Register Volume 74, Number 18 (Thursday, January 29, 2009)]
[Notices]
[Page 5161]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: E9-1819]



[[Page 5161]]

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DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES

Office of the Secretary


Findings of Research Misconduct

AGENCY: Office of the Secretary, HHS.

ACTION: Notice.

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SUMMARY: Notice is hereby given that the Office of Research Integrity 
(ORI) and the Assistant Secretary for Health have taken final action in 
the following case:
    Nima Afshar, PhD., University of California, San Francisco: Based 
on a University of California, San Francisco (UCSF) report and 
Respondent's own admission, the U.S. Public Health Service (PHS) found 
that Dr. Nima Afshar, former postdoctoral fellow at UCSF engaged in 
research misconduct in research supported by National Cancer Institute 
(NCI), National Institutes of Health (NIH), grant T32 CA108462 and 
National Institute of General Medical Sciences (NIGMS), NIH, grant R01 
GM59704.
    PHS found that Respondent engaged in research misconduct in the 
performance of research on yeast to test whether disruption of the 
tight controls, to prevent re-replication, on the initiation of DNA 
replication could produce gene amplifications with a copy number 
greater than two (2).
    Specifically, Respondent falsified files containing raw scanned 
microarray images from another researcher's experiments to demonstrate 
that in experiments that she claimed to have conducted, she 
successfully observed gene amplifications with a copy number greater 
than two (2); there were 36 such instances of falsifying data files.
    Dr. Afshar has entered into a Voluntary Settlement Agreement in 
which she has voluntarily agreed, for a period of three (3) years, 
beginning on December 22, 2008:
    (1) To exclude herself from serving in any advisory capacity to 
PHS, including but not limited to service on any PHS advisory 
committee, board, and/or peer review committee, or as a consultant; and
    (2) that any institution that submits an application for PHS 
support for a research project on which the Respondent's participation 
is proposed or that uses the Respondent in any capacity on PHS 
supported research, or that submits a report of PHS-funded research in 
which the Respondent is involved, must concurrently submit a plan for 
supervision of the Respondent's duties to the funding agency for 
approval. The supervisory plan must be designed to ensure the 
scientific integrity of the Respondent's research contribution. 
Respondent agrees to ensure that a copy of the supervisory plan also is 
submitted to ORI by the institution for ORI approval. Respondent agrees 
that she will not participate in any PHS-supported research until such 
a supervisory plan is submitted to ORI.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Director, Division of Investigative 
Oversight, Office of Research Integrity, 1101 Wootton Parkway, Suite 
750, Rockville, MD 20852, (240) 453-8800.

John E. Dahlberg,
Acting Director, Office of Research Integrity.
[FR Doc. E9-1819 Filed 1-28-09; 8:45 am]
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