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A surgeon who moved to Russia after being fired from a Swedish hospital has lost his Russian Science Foundation grant, following the retraction of a Nature Communications paper:
After Paolo Macchiarini's star fell in Sweden, the Italian surgeon still had a place to shine: Russia. The Karolinska Institute (KI) in Stockholm fired him in March 2016 for multiple ethical violations, including "breach of KI's fundamental values" and "scientific negligence." But Russia had long showered Macchiarini with funding and opportunities to perform his experimental surgeries to implant artificial tracheas, and it allowed him to stay. Now, a year later, his Russian refuge has ended as well.
On 30 March, it became clear that the Russian Science Foundation (RSF) would not renew its funding for Macchiarini's work, which now focuses on the esophagus rather than the trachea. The decision came 9 days after Nature Communications retracted a paper by Macchiarini [open, DOI: 10.1038/ncomms15077] [DX] that documented successful esophagus transplantations in rats. Minutes of a meeting made public last week show that Kazan Federal University (KFU), Macchiarini's current employer, decided to end his research project there on 20 April, effectively firing him.
[...] Once considered a pioneer of regenerative surgery, Macchiarini aimed to give patients whose tracheas had been damaged a new windpipe. "Seeded" with stem cells, it was supposed to grow into a new, fully functional organ. (He initially used donor tracheas as a basis, but later switched to an artificial scaffold.) But he has been accused of painting a false picture of his patients in scientific papers, several of which have been retracted; operating without ethical approval; and lying on his CV. At least six of the eight artificial trachea recipients have died. In Sweden, where the case has plunged science into a crisis, investigations continue into allegations including involuntary manslaughter.
This isn't our first encounter with Dr. Macchiarini.
(Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday May 20 2017, @03:38AM (3 children)
It is not at all difficult to p hack and otherwise misinterpret your way to medical papers, I don't understand the need for fraud here.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday May 20 2017, @03:49AM (1 child)
Is it fraud, or is he overly confident and exceptionally unlucky?
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday May 20 2017, @05:03AM
It does not matter, and we should not care.
He retracted the papers due to his proven lack of good working practice. That makes his complete work useless, because it can not be trusted. So why should he get funded?
Science is the *one* profession where not the actual results are important (well, that's how it *should* be ...), but good working practice trumps all. (sorry, really bad pun here)
(Score: 4, Funny) by marcello_dl on Saturday May 20 2017, @09:44AM
Fellow Italians won't resort to number massaging when they can outright cheat, instead. It's a matter of principle. Not cheating would be like... cheating.
Why do you think good ol' Berlusconi went bunga bunga with 17yo girls? because legal age is 18.
Q: how do you distribute a leaflet in Italian cities?
A: You leave the pile of leaflets on a bench together with a clearly written note: DO NOT TOUCH