[3dem] problematic paper about gold nano particle labeling just published in Structure

[John Briggs]

A colleague spotted the link below: this paper discussed on the 3dem list last year has been retracted.

http://retractionwatch.com/2015/08/06/brandeis-investigation-finds-scientific-misconduct-in-gold-nanoparticle-paper/

John

On 26 Jun 2014, at 16:53, Stark, Holger <hstark1 at gwdg.de> wrote:

> Dear Grant,
>  
> I had a closer  look at the images and it turns out that the plus minus Au images have been created simply by rotating one image with respect to the other by 90 degrees and shifting the area of the image. I have attached an image that shows the remaining overlapping region after the rotation and shift (approximately).
>  
> Best regards
> Holger
>  
> From: 3dem-bounces at ncmir.ucsd.edu [mailto:3dem-bounces at ncmir.ucsd.edu] On Behalf Of Jensen, Grant J.
> Sent: Mittwoch, 11. Juni 2014 03:25
> To: 3dem at ncmir.ucsd.edu
> Subject: [3dem] problematic paper about gold nano particle labeling just published in Structure
>  
> Dear colleagues,
>  
> bad news: a post-doc in my lab called my attention to a figure in a paper published recently in Structure that appears to be fraudulent.  
>  
> It is Figure 3 of 
>  
> High-Affinity Gold Nanoparticle Pin to Label and Localize Histidine-Tagged Protein in Macromolecular Assemblies
> Kelsey C. Anthony, Changjiang You, Jacob Piehler, Daniel A. Pomeranz Krummel
> Structure, Vol. 22, Issue 4, p628–635
> Published online: February 20, 2014
>  
> It appears that parts of one image have been duplicated and cut and pasted into other images, with “gold” particles added (photoshopped?) on top.  If you’d like to judge for yourself, please see the two slides I’ve attached.  Note how the background noise spots marked with the black arrows match, as do the noise spots marked with the red arrows, and note the strange square box around the particle marked with the blue arrow.  In the bottom, I have captured a screen shot of the particle marked with my star on the upper left corner and cut and paste it next to the two particles supposedly “decorated” with gold fiducials on the right, but notice how all three particles seem to be identical.  Even the noise around the particles match.
>  
> We alerted the journal editors a few weeks ago, but as it now appears that their process to deal with this could be long, we wanted to alert the community too before anyone lost time pondering this new “method”.  
>  
> Grant
>  
>  
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------
> Grant Jensen
> Professor of Biology and Investigator, HHMI
> California Institute of Technology, Mail code 114-96
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>  
> Administrative Assistant Karin Mallard
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> --------------------------------------------------------------------------
>  
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john.briggs at embl.de
Tel. +49 6221 387 8482

Dr. John A. G. Briggs
European Molecular Biology Laboratory
Meyerhofstr. 1
69117 Heidelberg
Germany




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