FLICKR, ASPLOSH

The Office of Research Integrity has found that Peter J. Francis, an associate professor at the Casey Eye Institute of Oregon Health & Science University, fabricated data on two grant applications that he submitted to the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and the National Eye Institute (NEI). In those reports, he discussed pilot experiments in which he injected retinal pigment cells derived from Rhesus monkey embryonic stem cells (ECS) into rats with retinal degeneration to improve their vision. He claimed that the rats then grew new retinal cells with no noticeable side effects.

Upon investigation by the ORI, Francis admitted that the experiments had never actually been done and agreed to have his research supervised for 2 years, in addition to other restrictions.

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