preview

Essay On Falsified Neutralization

Decent Essays

Dong-Pyou Han, Ph. D, former Research Assistant Professor in the Department of biomedical services at Iowa State University of science and technology was found to be engaged in research fraud. It was found that Han falsified results to develop vaccine against human immunodeficiency virous -1 by intentionally spiking samples of rabbit sera with human antibodies. The falsification made it appear that rabbits induced antibodies that is able to neutralize a broad range of HIV-1 strains. The results were considered a breakthrough in the efforts to find an HIV vaccine. Falsified neutralization assay results were reported in laboratory meetings, in seven national and international symposia between 2010 and 2012 and in grants applications and progress …show more content…

Test results showed that rabbits who received the vaccine GP41 showed sign of antibodies against the virus in the blood, suggesting that the vaccine had induced an immune response. According to Han, the rabbits’ blood became contaminated with human antibodies by mistake. Han claimed that he realized the mistake to late, which was why he did not inform Cho, the principle investigator, (Phillips,2015).
Instead of admitting any mistake, Han who was the lab manager and had direct access to the samples, continued for years to spike future samples with human antibodies and helped to supply falsified data for the research grant applications. In early 2013, however, researchers trying to validate Cho’s team results found human antibodies in rabbit blood samples sent by Cho’s lab. Cho immediately reported the problem and the Iowa State University and federal government lunched an investigation (Phillips,2015).
The elements of misconduct and fraud include,
1- Failure to notify the Principle Investigator and REB of any mistake that could have happened initially and lead to the mixing of the human antibodies and the rabbits’ sera. 2- Iintentionally spiking the rabbit sera samples with human IgG known to contain broadly neutralizing antibodies to provide the desired

Get Access