Federal Register / Vol. 70, No. 204 / Monday, October 24, 2005 / Notices 61443 

and approximately 3 p.m. on December 

15. 

Comments: Written comments should 

be received by December 5, 2005, to 

allow time for adequate review before 

the workshop (see FOR FURTHER

INFORMATION CONTACT below). The 

deadline for registration to present oral 

comments at the meeting is December 8, 

2005. 

Registration: Individuals who plan to 

attend are encouraged to register online 

at the NTP Web site http:// 

ntp.niehs.nih.gov/ select ‘‘Meetings and 

Workshops’’ as soon as possible because 

seating is limited. Persons needing 

special assistance, such as sign language 

interpretation or other reasonable 

accommodation in order to attend, 

should contact 919–541–2475 voice, 

919–541–4644 TTY (text telephone), 

through the Federal TTY Relay System 

at 800–877–8339, or by e-mail to 

niehsoeeo@niehs.nih.gov. Requests 

should be made at least 7 days in 

advance of the event. 

ADDRESSES: The workshop will be held 

at the Hyatt Regency Crystal City, 2799 

Jefferson Davis Highway, Arlington, VA. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: 

Public comments and any other 

correspondence should be submitted to 

Dr. Barbara Shane (NTP Liaison and 

Scientific Review Office, NIEHS, P.O. 

Box 12233, MD A3–01, Research 

Triangle Park, NC 27709; telephone: 

919–541–4253, fax: 919–541–0295; or email: shane@niehs.nih.gov). 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 

Background 

The High Throughput Screening 

Assays Workshop will include plenary 

sessions as well as four simultaneous 

breakout group sessions for in-depth 

discussion. Each breakout group will 

address one of the following topics: (1) 

The selection of targets and assays for 

high throughput screening; (2) the 

conduct of studies including chemical 

selection, study design, and analytical 

methods; (3) data storage, analysis, and 

interpretation; and (4) the application of 

data from high throughput screening 

assays in regulatory decision-making. 

Following the workshop, the NTP will 

prepare a workshop report and present 

its proposed strategy to the NTP Board 

of Scientific Counselors for its 

consideration and input. 

Request for Comments 

Public input at this meeting is invited 

and time is set aside for the presentation 

of public comments during the plenary 

session on December 14. Each 

organization is allowed one speaker 

during the public comment period. At 

least 7 minutes will be allotted to each 

speaker, and if time permits, may be 

extended to 10 minutes. Registration for 

oral comments will also be available onsite, although time allowed for 

presentation by on-site registrants may 

be less than that for pre-registered 

speakers and will be determined by the 

number of persons who register at the 

meeting. 

Written statements can supplement 

and may expand the oral presentation. 

If registering on-site and reading from 

written text, please bring 40 copies of 

the statement for distribution and to 

supplement the record. Written 

comments received in response to this 

notice will be posted on the NTP Web 

site (http://ntp.niehs.nih.gov select 

‘‘Meetings and Workshops’’). Persons 

submitting written comments should 

include their name, affiliation, mailing 

address, phone, fax, e-mail, and 

sponsoring organization (if any) with 

the document. 

Dated: October 13, 2005. 

Samuel H. Wilson, 

Deputy Director, National Institute of 

Environmental Health Sciences. 

[FR Doc. 05–21130 Filed 10–21–05; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 4140–01–P 

DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND 

HUMAN SERVICES 

Office of the Secretary 

Findings of Scientific Misconduct 

AGENCY: Office of the Secretary, HHS. 

ACTION: Notice. 

SUMMARY: Notice is hereby given that 

the Office of Research Integrity (ORI) 

and the Acting Assistant Secretary for 

Health have taken final action in the 

following case: 

Xiaowu Li, MD, PhD, The University 

of California at San Francisco: On 

September 16, 2005, the U.S. Public 

Health Service (PHS) entered into a 

Voluntary Exclusion Agreement with 

the University of California at San 

Francisco (UCSF) and Xiaowu Li, MD, 

PhD, former postdoctoral fellow at 

UCSF. Based on the UCSF report and 

additional analysis conducted by ORI in 

its oversight review, PHS found that Dr. 

Li engaged in scientific misconduct in 

reporting research supported by grants 

P01 DE13904, ‘‘Adhesion and 

proliferation in oral cancer 

progression,’’ R01 DE12856, ‘‘Oral 

melanoma alpha v beta 3 expression and 

metastasis,’’ and R01 DE011930, 

‘‘Regulatory function of fyn in oral SCC 

invasion,’’ all funded by the National 

Institute of Dental and Craniofacial 

Research (NIDCR), National Institutes of 

Health (NIH). 

Specifically, PHS found that Dr. Li 

falsified three images in Figure 5B of a 

paper, ‘‘Laminin-5 promotes cell 

motility by regulating the function of 

the integrin a6b1 in pancreatic cancer,’’

published online in Carcinogenesis 

Advance Access, reporting studies on 

the role of integrin a6b1 and laminin on 

the invasiveness of pancreatic cancer 

cells and their ability to metastasize. 

In all three images, mouse melanoma 

cells were falsely represented as being 

human pancreatic carcinoma cells; the 

cancer cells were falsely represented as 

having been plated on medium with 

laminin-1, whereas they were in fact 

plated on medium with vitronectin; and 

for two of the three images, the cancer 

cells were falsely represented as having 

been stained with anti-integrin b1, 

whereas they were actually stained with 

anti-integrin b3. 

The misconduct was significant 

because pancreatic cancer has a poor 

prognosis for patients, since it tends to 

invade other tissues and to metastasize 

early in its course. Knowledge of the 

factors that facilitate cancer cell 

invasion and metastasis, which was the 

focus of the questioned figure and 

paper, is crucial to attempts to develop 

better treatments for pancreatic and 

other cancers. Thus, the falsified figure 

could have misled other investigators in 

this important area of medical research. 

Dr. Li has entered into a Voluntary 

Exclusion Agreement (Agreement) in 

which he has voluntarily agreed, for a 

period of three (3) years, beginning on 

September 16, 2005: 

(1) To exclude himself from any 

contracting or subcontracting with any 

agency of the United States Government 

and from eligibility or involvement in 

nonprocurement programs of the United 

States Government referred to as 

‘‘covered transactions’’ as defined in the 

debarment regulations at 45 CFR Part 

76; and 

(2) To exclude himself 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 consultant. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: 

Director, Division of Investigative 

Oversight, Office of Research Integrity, 

1101 Wootton Parkway, Suite 750, 

Rockville, MD 20852, (301) 443–5330. 

Chris B. Pascal, 

Director, Office of Research Integrity. 

[FR Doc. 05–21150 Filed 10–21–05; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 4150–31–P