Pennsylvania State University has banned a biomedical engineering professor from continuing her research after an investigation revealed “unreliable data” in several publications she authored, The Philadelphia Inquirer reported on Thursday.
Deborah Kelly, who specializes in cancer research, is currently listed as the director of PSU’s Center for Structural Oncology and remains employed by Penn State. However, the university stated that “as of May 2024, she is indefinitely prohibited from conducting research, pursuing grants or contracts, submitting publications, or making presentations on behalf of the Pennsylvania State University.”
The investigation into Kelly’s work was initiated by U.K.-based academic Thomas McCorvie, a senior research associate at Newcastle University. He first noticed irregularities in Kelly’s research in a paper published in Science Advances in 2017, which has since been retracted. McCorvie raised concerns about another paper by Kelly published in 2022 in ChemBioChem, leading him to identify 21 problematic papers authored by Kelly, which he posted about on PubPeer last year.
According to Retraction Watch, McCorvie highlighted several issues in Kelly’s papers, including the reuse of figures and images for different conditions and samples, electron microscopy maps with incorrect pixel sizes, failure to correlate atomic models with electron microscopy maps, and lack of expected features at stated resolutions on the maps.
“There are many problems, and I believe it to be a deep-rooted issue,” said McCorvie, attributing the responsibility solely to Kelly as the principal investigator and head of the lab, even if students and early-career researchers may have contributed to the papers.
So far, four of Kelly’s scientific papers have been retracted from medical literature. However, each retraction notice includes a statement indicating that Kelly disagrees with the decision.
While it is uncommon for a scientist like Kelly to lose research privileges due to alleged data fabrication, retractions are more frequent. For example, the journal Optical and Quantum Electronics has retracted over 200 papers since September of this year.