Academia Sinica yesterday approved the resignation of distinguished research fellow Chen Ching-shih (陳慶士) after news of research misconduct in eight of his published papers was made public by the Ohio State University, where he previously served as a cancer researcher.
Academia Sinica said in a statement that it is sorry to hear about the incident, but added that Chen’s misconduct occurred before he became head of Academia Sinica’s Institute of Biological Chemistry in August 2014.
The institution’s Research Ethics Committee would still look into work he performed while serving at the academy, the statement added.
Chen’s resignation from the Academia Sinica comes after academic journal Science and the university issued separate reports on Friday regarding the findings of research misconduct that led to his resignation as a cancer researcher from the university last year.
The reports said the investigation found Chen had “intentionally committed research misconduct” in 14 instances in eight journal articles, and was guilty of “deviating from the accepted practices of image handling and figure generation and intentionally falsifying data.”
Chen admitted to the charges and resigned in September last year, the university said.
The university said it has requested an “immediate retraction” of the papers, published between 2006 and 2014, that contain the fabricated data.
However, the implications of the misconduct go beyond unreliable academic papers, as Chen’s work had raised millions of US dollars in funding and led to multiple patents and the establishment of two compounds in clinical trials.
The university said it immediately shut down a clinical trial of one of Chen’s anti-cancer agents that Arno Therapeutics Inc had been conducting after obtaining exclusive rights to test the agents.
A spokesperson for the company said that issues with Chen’s papers had “zero impact” on its drug development efforts, Science said.
The university said it “hired an external consultant who validated that Chen’s research misconduct did not affect the Arno licensed compounds developed in his lab.”
“Patient safety was never compromised,” the university’s statement said.
The university said it has forwarded the investigation to federal authorities, meaning Chen could continue to be investigated for his actions.
Academia Sinica first became aware of the matter about a year ago, but it had limited access to Chen’s questionable articles because the university did not reveal its investigation on its Web site until Friday, Academia Sinica Central Academic Advisory Committee executive secretary Henry Sun (孫以瀚) said yesterday.
This is the worst punishment a Taiwanese academic has ever received from a foreign institution, dealing a heavy blow to the nation’s image in international academia, Sun said.
Sun quoted Chen as saying that his laboratory staff “beautified” data to make their research look better, and that he was responsible for lax supervision.
Yesterday morning, Chen’s profile was accessible on the Institute of Biological Chemistry’s Web site, but it was later taken down after Chen tendered his verbal resignation to Academia Sinica president James Liao (廖俊智).
Meanwhile, China Medical University, where Chen in February temporarily served as the director of its Institute of New Drug Development, yesterday said it is unclear about the matter and is collecting information about the case.
Before Chen returned to Taiwan to serve as director of the Institute of Biological Chemistry in August 2014 — a position he held until August last year — he had taught at the Ohio State University’s College of Pharmacy, the University of Rhode Island and the University of Kentucky.
Specializing in medicinal chemistry, cancer studies, biological chemistry and translational medicine, Chen has received research awards from the US Prostate Cancer Foundation and the Hearst Foundation, and is a fellow at the American Association for the Advancement of Science.
In April last year, he and National Cheng Kung University researchers found a relation between vitamin E and cancer prevention, and created an anti-tumor agent that is 20 times more efficient than previous ones, which was then considered a potential opportunity to develop a new anti-cancer drug.
CLASH OF WORDS: While China’s foreign minister insisted the US play a constructive role with China, Rubio stressed Washington’s commitment to its allies in the region The Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) yesterday affirmed and welcomed US Secretary of State Marco Rubio statements expressing the US’ “serious concern over China’s coercive actions against Taiwan” and aggressive behavior in the South China Sea, in a telephone call with his Chinese counterpart. The ministry in a news release yesterday also said that the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs had stated many fallacies about Taiwan in the call. “We solemnly emphasize again that our country and the People’s Republic of China are not subordinate to each other, and it has been an objective fact for a long time, as well as
‘CHARM OFFENSIVE’: Beijing has been sending senior Chinese officials to Okinawa as part of efforts to influence public opinion against the US, the ‘Telegraph’ reported Beijing is believed to be sowing divisions in Japan’s Okinawa Prefecture to better facilitate an invasion of Taiwan, British newspaper the Telegraph reported on Saturday. Less than 750km from Taiwan, Okinawa hosts nearly 30,000 US troops who would likely “play a pivotal role should Beijing order the invasion of Taiwan,” it wrote. To prevent US intervention in an invasion, China is carrying out a “silent invasion” of Okinawa by stoking the flames of discontent among locals toward the US presence in the prefecture, it said. Beijing is also allegedly funding separatists in the region, including Chosuke Yara, the head of the Ryukyu Independence
‘ARMED GROUP’: Two defendants used Chinese funds to form the ‘Republic of China Taiwan Military Government,’ posing a threat to national security, prosecutors said A retired lieutenant general has been charged after using funds from China to recruit military personnel for an “armed” group that would assist invading Chinese forces, prosecutors said yesterday. The retired officer, Kao An-kuo (高安國), was among six people indicted for contravening the National Security Act (國家安全法), the High Prosecutors’ Office said in a statement. The group visited China multiple times, separately and together, from 2018 to last year, where they met Chinese military intelligence personnel for instructions and funding “to initiate and develop organizations for China,” prosecutors said. Their actions posed a “serious threat” to “national security and social stability,” the statement
‘VERY SHALLOW’: The center of Saturday’s quake in Tainan’s Dongshan District hit at a depth of 7.7km, while yesterday’s in Nansai was at a depth of 8.1km, the CWA said Two magnitude 5.7 earthquakes that struck on Saturday night and yesterday morning were aftershocks triggered by a magnitude 6.4 quake on Tuesday last week, a seismologist said, adding that the epicenters of the aftershocks are moving westward. Saturday and yesterday’s earthquakes occurred as people were preparing for the Lunar New Year holiday this week. As of 10am yesterday, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) recorded 110 aftershocks from last week’s main earthquake, including six magnitude 5 to 6 quakes and 32 magnitude 4 to 5 tremors. Seventy-one of the earthquakes were smaller than magnitude 4. Thirty-one of the aftershocks were felt nationwide, while 79