An Italian cancer researcher is being criminally investigated for fraud, Retraction Watch's Adam Marcus reports. The researcher, Alfredo Fusco from the National Council of Research’s Institute of Experimental Endocrinology and Oncology, allegedly manipulated images in eight papers, in part to get more funding.
According to Marcus, Fusco's work is highly cited and has focused on using microarrays to identify genes with differential expression in thyroid cancer and on studying High Mobility Group A rearrangements in benign and malignant tumors.
Marcus adds that the eight papers in question have not been retracted. "In our experience, the criminal inquiries usually follow the expose of scientific misconduct, not the other way around," he adds.