Iowa State AIDS Researcher Admits To Falsifying Findings

theodp writes "'With countless lives depending on their work,' writes Brett Smith, 'it seems unthinkable that AIDS researchers might falsify their work. However, that's just what Iowa State University assistant professor Dong-Pyou Han has admitted to, according to federal documents.' Han resigned from the project in October after admitting to tampering with samples to give the appearance that an experimental vaccine was causing lab animals to build up protections against HIV. According to the NIH, Han apparently spiked rabbit blood with human blood components from people whose bodies had produced antibodies to HIV. 'This positive result was striking, and it caught everybody's attention,' said the NIH. However, researchers at other institutions became suspicious after they were unsuccessful in duplicating the ISU results. The Iowa State AIDS research project had been awarded $19 million in federal grants over the past several years. Han has agreed to be banned from participating in any federally-financed research for three years."

Not all Koreans cheat

[Taco Cowboy]

Dr. Dong-Pyou Han is a Korean.

He cheated.

So was Dr. Woo-suk Hwang, who fake the data on cloning back in 2006.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hwang_Woo-suk [wikipedia.org]

Koreans can never be trusted.

Never !

While it's true that both Dr. Hwang and Dr. Han are Koreans, not all Koreans are cheaters.

Similarly, not all non-Koreans are non-cheaters either.

But I sense something terribly wrong in the set-up at Iowa State U.

You see, Dr. Han's immediate superior is Dr. Michael Cho, and as the supervisor of Dr. Han, Dr. Cho has failed to keep a close eyes on the researches being carried out by his subordinates.

And while Dr. Han has had his wrist slightly slapped (only ban for 3 year). Dr. Cho, the boss, never was reprimanded for his own dereliction of duty.

Re:Poor Han

[fuzznutz]

Principal investigators are paid fairly well. Research assistants and technicians might not. A good PI brings in millions of dollars to a state university and that is how they fill those budget voids. Our research overhead is 55%. That is money taken right off the top for the privilege of working in a university owned lab building. All equipment and supplies come out of the rest. Those grants need a good PI name to get funded.