Following an investigation by the State University of New York (SUNY) Upstate into the work of one of its neuroscientists, the Journal of Neurochemistry has retracted a 2007 paper.
The retraction notice is quite clear about why the paper is being withdrawn:
The following article from Journal of Neurochemistry, “Functional nerve growth factor and trkA autocrine/paracrine circuits in adult rat cortex are revealed by episodic ethanol exposure and withdrawal” by Bruns M. and Miller MW., published online on 22 December 2006, Volume 100, Issue 5, 2007, pages 1155–1168 (now available through http://www.onlinelibrary.wiley.com) has been retracted by the Chief Editors. This action follows the advice from the President of SUNY Upstate after an investigation into allegations of research misconduct by Dr. Michael Miller. The preponderance of evidence reviewed in that investigation suggested that Figures 2 to 6 in this publication have been falsified. Dr. Bruns was not the subject of any investigation.
The paper has been cited five times, according to Thomson Scientific’s Web of Knowledge.
Michael W. Miller, whose hiring was the subject of a 2000 Upstate press release, is no longer employed at Upstate, and we do not know his whereabouts. We understand that the case has been referred to the Office of Research Integrity (ORI), which investigates allegations of fraud by federally funded scientists. According to the 2000 release:
Miller brings to SUNY Upstate more than $3 million in research grants, much of it dedicated to the study of the effect of alcohol on brain cells, fetal alcohol syndrome and alcohol neurotoxicity. His grant support comes from the National Cancer Institute, National Institute of Alcoholism and Alcohol Abuse and the Department of Veterans Affairs. His research interests include, the cerebral cortex, developmental neurobiology, growth factors, neuronal death, neuronal plasticity and neurotoxicology.
Miller’s co-author, Marla Bruns, whom the notice makes clear was not the subject of the investigation, is now a neurology resident at Ohio State. We’ve tried to reach her as well as Upstate, and will update with anything we hear back. [Update, 1:30 p.m. Eastern, 1/25/12: Bruns returned our call to say she had no comment on the case.]
In an unrelated case, the ORI recently found that a former SUNY Upstate grad student had manipulated Western blots.
Hat tip: Greg Pattyn
Michael B. Miller
Associate Professor, Psychology
Received his BA in Psychology from San Francisco State University in 1994. He then began his doctoral training in Neuroscience at the University of California, Davis where he won the Achievement Award for College Scientists. After joining the lab of Dr. Michael Gazzaniga, he transfered to Dartmouth College, where he received his Ph.D. in Cognitive Neuroscience in 1998. In 1999, he became an assistant professor at the Department of Psychological & Brain sciences at the University of Massachusetts Boston. In 2002, he joined the faculty at UCSB. His publications studying the cognitive neuroscience of human memory, decision-making, and individual differences have utilized various techniques including functional magnetic resonance imaging, transcranial magnetic stimulation, patient testing, and signal detection analysis. Professor Miller is the vice director of the Sage Center for the Study of the Mind and editor of The Year in Cognitive Neuroscience, an annual review published by the New York Academy of Sciences.
Contact Information
Phone: (805) 893-6190
Fax: (805) 893-4724
E-Mail: m_miller@psych.ucsb.edu
Office: Psychology East (Building 251), Room 3835
Mailing Address
Department of Psychology
University of California, Santa Barbara
Santa Barbara, CA 93106-9660
