|
|
|
KAIST professor faked data on science papers
DAEJEON, March 13 (Yonhap) -- A biotech professor at the Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST) has been found to have used forged data on a scientific papers accepted by international journals, school authorities said Thursday.
The Daejeon-based university said Kim Tae-kook's papers published in Science magazine in 2005 made use of inaccurate and fabricated data.
The paper claimed that magnetically charged nano-particles could be used to find "target proteins" in living cells. The "Magic" technique was hailed as holding potential to greatly speed up the discovery of candidate materials for new drugs.
Experts said at the time that if the technology could be perfected and used on a commercial scale, it could change the way new drugs are developed.
In addition to the Magic technology, KAIST investigators said that Kim's paper published in the 2006 edition of Nature Chemical Biology on the anti-aging, synthetic organic molecule CGK733 was forged and the test results unsubstantiated.
Using CGK733 has been touted as a way to extend the life span of cultured cells in laboratory experiments.
They said a key substance that was needed to find CGK733 did not exist at the time the paper was released, and that Kim may have used data and materials that he discovered while working at a laboratory in Harvard.
The school said that both Kim and Won Jae-joon, the first author of the Magic paper, admitted that the data used were not accurate. However, it said that the two are blaming each other for the use of fake data and test results.
"While graduate students and researchers from the Korea Research Institute of Chemical Technology were involved in the papers, we have determined that they did not play any role in the forging of data," said Yang Hyun-seung, the chief KAIST scientist in charge of the probe.
He said that depending on the seriousness of the offense, which will come to light in the near future, the school could file criminal charges against the offenders.
"The aim is to set a clear example that faking data and tests would not be tolerated in the scientific community," the official said.
Suspicions against Kim's paper were first raised in February, with the special committee set up immediately afterward to determine if the accusations were true.
(END)
|
| |
|
|
Home
