Red wine [health benefits] researcher flagged for fake data

[salvorhardin]

A University of Connecticut researcher known for his work on the benefits of red wine to heart health falsified his data in more than 100 instances, and nearly a dozen scientific journals are being warned of the potential problems after publishing his studies in recent years, officials said Wednesday.

UConn officials said their internal review found 145 instances over seven years in which Dr. Dipak Das fabricated and falsified data, and the U.S. Office of Research Integrity has launched an independent investigation of his work.

Das, a tenured surgery professor and director of UConn Health Center's Cardiovascular Research Center, has gained national attention in recent years for research into the beneficial properties of resveratrol, which is found in red wine.

UConn officials did not say Wednesday whether the falsification occurred in research on that topic or others. The university's health center recently declined to accept $890,000 in federal grants awarded to him as its review was under way, and has frozen all other external funding for his lab.
Link: http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-204_162-57357036/red-wine-researcher-flagged-for-fake-data

[laconicsax]

1. Where're the Wakefield supporters on this?

Presumably they support Das through all of this.

[HuckleB]

2. Ugh. That bastard.

It's a good thing I'm drinking some fine Porter tonight, instead of red wine.

But, seriously, what the H?

[Celebration]

3. I'm really suspicious that this type of thing might be widespread

There is so much publish or perish mentality that I wonder it that doesn't indirectly encourage this type of behavior. I am starting to wonder if this isn't more common than thought, and people aren't caught!

Having said that,

http://www.therepublic.com/view/story/SCI-FABRICATEDRESEARCH_7005502/SCI-FABRICATEDRESEARCH_7005502/

At least one resveratrol expert said the damage from Das’ apparent fraud to resveratrol research will be minimal. Retraction Watch said Nir Barzilai, of Albert Einstein College of Medicine, said he’d heard of Das but never met him. Barzilai also noted that most of Das’ list of publications “seem to be in lower-impact factor journals.”

“There are many investigators who are working on resveratrol,” Retraction Watch quotes Barzilai as saying. “That doesn’t mean we know the whole truth. But Rome wasn’t built on Dr. Das.”

[salvorhardin]

4. Oh, no, the misconduct of one researcher shouldn't indict a whole field of research

Das is hardly the first person to use fraudulent data either, however, Das' level of duplicity is almost Rumsfeldian in its scope.

There is so much publish or perish mentality...

See the book review I shared here: http://www.democraticunderground.com/10166594

[Ron Obvious]

5. I read that as "Flogged for Fake Data"

But my eyesight is noticeably poorer when I've been drinking a lot.

[Chemisse]

6. Oh just great.

I actually started drinking red wine about 10 years ago because of the studies that showed it had heart benefits.