University Resveratrol Researcher Fabricated Scientific Data

The University of Connecticut’s Health Center has alerted 11 scientific journals that studies they published that were performed by one of the university’s researchers may have included fabricated data.

Dipak K. Das, PhD, was a professor at the university’s Department of Surgery and was director of the university’s Cardiovascular Research Center. The university says that Das had gained attention in recent years for his research on the beneficial properties of resveratrol.

The university has concluded that Das is guilty on 145 counts of fabrication and falsification of data. The university began its investigation on Das three years ago, thanks to anonymous tips, and worked with the U.S. Office of Research Integrity during the process.

Philip Austin, the university’s interim vice president for health affairs, made sure to underline: “The abuses in one lab do not reflect the overall performance of the Health Center’s biomedical research enterprise, which continues to pursue advances in treatments and cures with the utmost integrity.”

The university says it is now working on dismissal proceedings for Das. Former members of Das’s lab are also facing inquiries, although “no findings have been issued to date,” the university says.

The scientific journals that were notified are:

• American Journal of Physiology-Heart & Circulatory

• Antioxidants & Redox Signaling

• Cellular Physiology & Biochemistry

• Free Radical Biology

• Free Radical Research

• Journal of Agriculture and Food Chemistry

• Journal of Cellular & Molecular Medicine

• Journal of Nutritional Biochemistry

• Journal of Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics

• Molecular & Cellular Cardiology

• Molecular & Cellular Chemistry