Marc Tessier-Lavigne speaks to the media at Stanford University in Stanford, February 4, 2016.
| Photo Credit: AP
The president of Stanford University, Marc Tessier-Lavigne, resigned from his submit and will probably be stepping down on August 31 after an investigation discovered proof of “manipulation of research data” in widely-cited papers during which he was the principal creator.
According to The Stanford Daily, the college’s information outlet, the investigation discovered that Dr. Tessier-Lavigne did not right errors in a number of scientific papers printed over the years. The investigation additionally discovered that his lab fostered an unhealthy lab dynamic the place Dr. Tessier-Lavigne would reward ‘winners’ whereas marginalising or shunning ‘losers’.
Dr. Tessier-Lavigne who’s a neuroscientist has been the president of Stanford University for the final seven years.
Why the investigation?
The investigation was launched by the Stanford Board of Trustees after an article by the identical information outlet reported in November that Dr. Tessier-Lavigne’s analysis was below investigation for misconduct.
After eight months of inquiries, the Scientific Panel constituted by the college’s Board of Trustees particular committee launched a 95-page report on July 17. The investigation was carried out by Mark Filip, a former deputy legal professional basic and different well-known scientists resembling the Nobel laureate Randy Schekman, former Princeton president Shirley Tilghman, former Harvard provost Steve Hyman and two different members of the National Academies.
The investigation particularly checked out twelve papers the place Dr. Tessier-Lavigne is a co-author which was half of the allegation that emerged for the first time on an internet site known as PubPeer — a crowd-sourced platform the place the scientific fraternity discusses points relating to scientific publications.
The Panel was additionally charged with trying into another points and leads pertaining to the integrity of the scientific course of in Dr. Tessier-Lavigne’s work. Under this, sure allegations got here up towards Dr. Tessier-Lavigne’s work when he was working as an govt and scientist at Genentech, a San Francisco-based biotechnology firm.
What did the report discover?
The report particularly identified 5 papers printed over the final twenty years the place Dr. Tessier-Lavigne was the principal creator but “failed to decisively and forthrightly correct mistakes in the scientific record.”
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The report concluded that whereas the outcomes of the analysis carried out below Dr. Tessier-Lavigne have been hedged, the investigators discovered no proof that he manipulated the information himself or was conscious of manipulation throughout the evaluation course of.
The fudging of outcomes has not been a lone incident at Stanford University however has “spanned labs at three separate institutions” the place Dr. Tessier-Lavigne has labored.
The report additionally mentioned that Dr. Tessier-Lavigne “has not been able to provide an adequate explanation” for why he didn’t right the errors in the papers even when he had a number of alternatives to take action.
In 2001, a fellow scientist in the discipline identified a doable doctored picture in a paper by Dr. Tessier-Lavigne printed in the journal Science. According to the report, Dr. Tessier-Lavigne wrote to the colleague that he would contact the journal and concern a correction, nonetheless, he did neither.
To date, no less than two of Dr. Tessier-Lavigne’s papers printed in Science nonetheless comprise errors. The report famous that Dr. Tessier-Lavigne has not adopted up for seven years on unpublished corrections. “Dr. Tessier-Lavigne did not have an explanation for deciding to not follow up on the corrections beyond that he has a practice of drafting many emails to see how they read but only sends a portion of them and that he concluded the communication was unnecessary,” the report mentioned.
The same incident occurred in 2004 when editors of the journal Nature discovered proof of manipulated information in a analysis paper. However, the clarification offered by Dr. Tessier-Lavigne was “ not fully responsive to the range of publicly expressed concerns”, the report mentioned.
Now what?
As a end result of the investigation, Dr. Tessier-Lavigne must retract three out of 5 of his analysis papers and make intensive corrections in the different two.
One of these papers was a widely-publicised research on Alzheimer’s which claimed to have turned the understanding of the neurodegenerative illness on its head. The report discovered the central conclusions of the paper to be incorrect and mentioned that the high quality of analysis in Dr. Tessier-Lavigne’s lab “fell below accepted scientific practices, let alone Dr. Tessier-Lavigne’s self-described standard of scientific excellence.”
The report additionally mentioned that the panel “believes that mistaken narrative of fraud in certain reporting may stem from a conflation of various events.”
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What did Marc Tessier-Lavigne say?
Dr. Tessier-Lavigne in a assertion issued on July 19 towards the findings of the report the place he mentioned, “I am gratified that the Panel concluded I did not engage in any fraud or falsification of scientific data.”
He additionally mentioned that he has “never submitted a scientific paper without firmly believing that the data were correct and accurately represented.”
Responding to the allegation of not doing sufficient to right the errors in the analysis paper, Dr. Tessier-Lavigne mentioned that whereas he took steps in the previous to deal with the points, in sure instances they’ve been inadequate.
Dr. Tessier-Lavigne additionally mentioned that he will probably be tightening the protocols in place resembling systematically matching processed photographs to the authentic ones. He will stay at Stanford University as a school and hold operating his lab.
In the in the meantime, the Board has named Dr Richard Saller, a professor of European Studies and former Dean of Humanities, will function interim president ranging from September 1.
