Two embattled and highly controversial stem cell researchers are suing the Brigham and Women’s Hospital and Harvard Medical School for an ongoing investigation into their research. The investigation has already resulted in the retraction of one paper in Circulation and an expression of concern about another paper in the Lancet.
The suit was filed by Piero Anversa, the highly prominent stem cell researcher who is a Harvard professor and the head of a large lab at the Brigham, and his longtime colleague, Annarosa Leri, an associate professor of medicine at Harvard who has coauthored many papers with Anversa. The suit places the blame for any scientific misconduct relating to the two papers on a third colleague and coauthor, Jan Kajstura, their longtime collaborator. In an explanation of the problems relating to the Circulation paper, Anversa and Leri accuse Kajstura of doctoring data in a spreadsheet in such a way that they could not have detected it. For the Lancet paper the two scientists say that Kajstura and another unnamed scientist in the lab altered two images. Kastura is no longer at the Brigham.
The lawsuit accuses Elizabeth Nabel, the president of the Brigham, and the individual members of the investigating panel, of inappropriate and illegal behavior and conflicts of interest. At one point the complaint alleges that the scientists on the panel “lack substantial expertise in the relevant scientific areas, including cardiac stem cells.” But then, when another member was added to the panel, Ulrich von Andrian, the complaint states that he “suffers from serious conflicts of interest that impede his ability to participate in the investigation in an impartial manner.”
Read full, original article: Embattled Stem Cell Researchers Sue Harvard And Brigham And Women’s Hospital
