
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: THURSDAY, March 21, 1991                   TAG: 9103210525
SECTION: NATL/INTL                    PAGE: A-4   EDITION: EVENING 
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: NEW YORK                                LENGTH: Medium

NOBEL WINNER WILL RETRACT DISPUTED RESEARCH PAPER

In an extraordinary step, a Nobel Prize-winning molecular biologist has moved to retract a research paper bearing his name after government investigators concluded it was based partly on faked data.

David Baltimore, president of Rockefeller University, had long defended the study, which has been the target of critics since its publication in the scientific journal Cell in 1986.

But he took the highly unusual step of asking that the paper be withdrawn after a preliminary report by the National Institutes of Health was leaked to major news organizations Wednesday.

The report concludes that Baltimore "made assertions as to the veracity of experiments without evidence to support them," according to a government official speaking on condition of anonymity.

Baltimore was co-author of the research on the body's immune system. Questions about the paper centered on data supplied by co-author Thereza Imanishi-Kari, a Tufts University researcher.

Baltimore issued a statement in which he acknowledged the draft report raised "very serious questions." But he appeared to place the blame on Imanishi-Kari.

"I am today asking the other authors to join with me in requesting that the journal retract the paper until such time as the questions are resolved," Baltimore said. "It is up to Dr. Imanishi-Kari to resolve them."

Bruce Singal, Imanishi-Kari's attorney, said she would not comment until the NIH investigation was completed.

The scientists' research suggested that transplanted genes could stimulate a recipient's immune system to generate certain antibodies. It was presented as a crucial development in understanding the immune system.

The research has been the subject of two university reviews, several congressional hearings and three previous NIH investigations. Investigators testified in Congress that notebooks used by Imanishi-Kari to support the research had been altered to support the conclusions.

The report does not implicate Baltimore in scientific fraud but criticizes him for defending the paper's integrity despite evidence to the contrary.

The report, prepared by the Office of Scientific Investigation at NIH, concluded "there was evidence of scientific misconduct" of which "institutions and individuals should have been aware," the source said.

The report also says "there may have been misrepresentations" to previous investigations of the episode.

NIH spokesman Storm Whaley said Wednesday that the report had not been completed.

by CNB