'Concern' Over Another Stem Cell Paper from Harvard Lab

October 15, 2010

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"Serious concerns" have been raised about a second paper coauthored by leading Harvard stem cell researcher Amy Wagers and Shane Mayack, a postdoc who worked in her lab, reports the Boston Globe's Carolyn Johnson. Earlier this week, Wagers retracted a paper she and two others coauthored with Mayack in Nature, and she has now brought concerns about a 2008 paper in Blood to the journal's editorial board, who posted a "notice of concern" regarding the paper, Johnson says. The notice states that the matter is currently under review.

Nature News' Alla Katsnelson says that when Nature reporters compared the two papers, they found what looked to be duplicate flow cytometry plots. In a statement to Nature News, Wagers says, "The integrity of the scientific process and my research is my highest priority, and I have acted to ensure that any errors in the record are fully corrected." Mayack declined to sign the retraction of the Nature paper.

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