A report published in the Oct. 19 edition of leading scientific journal Nature Cell Biology has been pulled after users of an online academic forum found that a National Taiwan University (NTU) research team led by professor Kuo Min-liang (郭明良) allegedly forged research findings using duplicated images.
The paper, which claimed to show how protease G9a could possibly regulate the proliferation of colorectal cancer cells and help scientists create new treatments, was trumpeted by the university in an online NTU newsletter last month.
Users of Pubpeer — a Web site that allows scientists to search for publications and engage in anonymous discussions — this month posted photographs taken from the NTU team’s research that claimed to show two sets of of mice implanted with colorectal cancer cells reacting to different protease treatments in an almost identical manner.
A user expressed doubt over the photos, saying that the authors could have duplicated them, using the same image to represent the results of different tests.
Posts on the Web site said that the researchers could have manipulated images produced by gel electrophoresis — a process by which proteins can be imaged — by rotating them and using different views as results from multiple tests.
Some images looked like they were partially duplicated and presented as different samples, a forum user said, adding that a number of protein electrophoresis images associated with an experiment did not seem to match up with images from a control group, which were shown in supplements to the paper.
NTU post-doctorate researcher Cha Shih-ting (查詩婷) — first author of the paper — said in the thread that she had “inappropriately duplicated” some figures in the article and that it would be retracted over “issues raised about academic ethics and her misconduct.”
Cha apologized for any inconvenience that errors in the research could have caused her fellow academics.
NTU secretary-general Lin Ta-te (林達德) said Cha had resigned from her post.
Lin said Kuo, who is also vice president of Kaohsiung Medical University, last week asked the journal to pull the article and reported the incident to the university.
The university would put together an academic ethics committee to investigate the incident, Lin said, adding that Kuo would be punished by an NTU evaluation committee for any breaches of academic ethics it finds.
Former president Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) on Monday called for greater cooperation between Taiwan, Lithuania and the EU to counter threats to information security, including attacks on undersea cables and other critical infrastructure. In a speech at Vilnius University in the Lithuanian capital, Tsai highlighted recent incidents in which vital undersea cables — essential for cross-border data transmission — were severed in the Taiwan Strait and the Baltic Sea over the past year. Taiwanese authorities suspect Chinese sabotage in the incidents near Taiwan’s waters, while EU leaders have said Russia is the likely culprit behind similar breaches in the Baltic. “Taiwan and our European
The Taipei District Court sentenced babysitters Liu Tsai-hsuan (劉彩萱) and Liu Jou-lin (劉若琳) to life and 18 years in prison respectively today for causing the death of a one-year-old boy in December 2023. The Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office said that Liu Tsai-hsuan was entrusted with the care of a one-year-old boy, nicknamed Kai Kai (剴剴), in August 2023 by the Child Welfare League Foundation. From Sept. 1 to Dec. 23 that year, she and her sister Liu Jou-lin allegedly committed acts of abuse against the boy, who was rushed to the hospital with severe injuries on Dec. 24, 2023, but did not
LIKE-MINDED COUNTRIES: Despite the threats from outside, Taiwan and Lithuania thrived and developed their economies, former president Tsai Ing-wen said Former president Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) on Saturday thanked Lithuania for its support of Taiwan, saying that both countries are united as partners in defending democracy. Speaking at a reception organized by the Lithuania-Taiwan Parliamentary Friendship Group welcoming her on her first visit to the Baltic state, Tsai said that while she was president from 2016 to last year, many Lithuanian “friends” visited Taiwan. “And I told myself I have to be here. I am very happy that I am here, a wonderful country and wonderful people,” Tsai said. Taiwan and Lithuania are in similar situations as both are neighbors to authoritarian countries, she
Former president Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) is to visit the UK during her ongoing European trip, which originally included only Lithuania and Denmark, her office said today. Tsai departed Taiwan for Europe on Friday night, with planned stops in Lithuania and Denmark, marking her second visit to the continent since her two-term presidency ended in May last year. Her office issued a statement today saying that Tsai would also visit the UK "for a few days," during which she is to meet with UK politicians and Taiwanese professionals, and visit academic and research institutions. Following Tsai's stop in Denmark, she is to visit the
RSS