Findings of scientific misconduct.

FINDINGS OF SCIENTIFIC MISCONDUCT

RELEASE DATE:  November 12, 2003

NOTICE:  NOT-OD-04-005

Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS)

Notice is hereby given that the Office of Research Integrity (ORI) and the 
Assistant Secretary for Health have taken final action in the following case:

Craig H. Gelband, Ph.D., University of Florida:  Based on the reports of two 
investigations conducted by the University of Florida (UF) (UF Reports) and 
additional analysis conducted by ORI in its oversight review, the U.S. Public 
Health Service (PHS) found that Craig H. Gelband, Ph.D., Associate Professor, 
Department of Physiology, College of Medicine at UF, engaged in scientific 
misconduct in research.  Publications and manuscripts containing the 
falsified data cited support from National Institutes of Health (NIH) grants, 
or falsified data was included in NIH grant applications, as follows:

R29 HL52189-01A2, then R01 HL52189-05, “Regulation of renal vascular 
cells in hypertension”

R01 HL56921, “AT1 receptor control in chronic hypertension”

F32 HD08496, “Role of MNA V2.3 in uterine contraction”

R01/R37 HL49254, “Ionic & pharmacological regulation of vascular cells”

F32 HL08531, “Hormonal regulation of renal artery ionci currents”

P01 DK41315, “Regulatory mechanism in colonic motility-program project”

R01 HL69034-01, “Mechanisms of cerebral resistance artery 
constriction.”

Specifically, PHS found that:

I.  Dr. Craig H. Gelband falsified data based on contractile tension 
recording in antisense experiments on the angiotensin enzyme (ACE), 
purportedly using renal arteriolar smooth muscle tension preparation:

A.  by falsely labeling the tension recordings in Figures 5, 6, and 7 
in a publication by Wang, H., Reaves, P.Y., Gardon, M.L., Keene, K., 
Goldberg, D.S., Gelband, C.H., Katovich, M.J. & Raizada, M.K.  
“Angiotensin I-converting enzyme antisense gene therapy causes 
permanent antihypertensive effects in the SHR.”  Hypertension 35[part 
2]:2002-208, 2000 (subsequently referred to as the “Hypertension 2000 
paper #1"), when he had earlier reported the same contractile records 
as being from experiments on the angiotensin receptor (not the enzyme), 
in Figures 6, 7, and 8 of an earlier mini-review by Martens, J.R. & 
Gelband, C.H.  “Ion channels in vascular smooth muscle:  Alterations in 
essential hypertension.”  PSEBM 218:192-200, 1998 (subsequently 
referred to as the PSEBM paper);

B.  by falsifying three of the four sets of the mean data that were in 
fact the same for both the F0 and F1 mean data in Figures 5 and 6 of 
the Hypertension 2000 paper #1.  Dr. Gelband also dishonestly provided 
the institution with the falsified/fabricated tables of the mean data 
and the associated false standard error values as evidence that he had 
conducted the experiments for Figures 5 and 6; and

C.  by falsifying EC50 values in Table 1 in NIH grant application 
HL52189-05; the EC50 values had been interpolated from the falsified 
mean and SEM data shown in Figures 5 and 6 in the Hypertension 2000 
paper #1.

II.  Dr. Gelband falsified data in the reporting of research, 
misrepresenting current/voltage (I/V) data to be results from totally 
different experimental models or preparations in six publications 
(including one manuscript “In-Press”) and in NIH grant application 
HL52189-05, specifically:

A.  as Figure 1A, in Gelband, C.H., Wang, H., Gardon, M.L., Keene, K., 
Goldberg, D.S., Reaves, P., Katovich, M.J., Raizada, M.K.  “Angiotensin 
1-converting enzyme antisense prevents altered renal vascular 
reactivity, but not high blood pressure, in spontaneously hypertensive 
rats.”  Hypertension 35 [part 2]:209-213, 2000 (subsequently referred 
to as the “Hypertension 2000 paper #2").

B.  as Figure 2, in Martens, J.R., Fergus, D.J., Tamkun, M.M., England, 
S.K., Gelband, C.H.  “Identification of voltage-gated K+ channel genes 
contributing to the decreased renal arteriolar K+ current in 
hypertension.”  J. Biol. Chem (MS M01389200), online, in press 
(subsequently referred to as the “JBC paper”).  J. Biol Chem Online 
(submitted and withdrawn).

C.  as Figure 4A, in Gelband, C.H.  “Protein kinase C regulation of 
renal vascular K? and Ca++ channels in hypertension.”  Hypertension 
Online paper, withdrawn (subsequently referred to as the “Hypertension 
Online paper”).

D.  as Figure 3, in Gelband, C.H., Reaves, P.Y., Evans, J., Wang, H., 
Katovich, M.J., & Raizade, M.K.  “Angiotensin II Type 1 receptor 
antisense gene therapy prevents altered renal vascular calcium 
homeostasis in hypertension.”  Hypertension 33[partII]:360-365, 1999 
(subsequently referred to as the “Hypertension 1999 paper”).

E.  as Figures 4A and 4B in Martens, J.R., Reaves, P.Y., Lu, D., 
Katovich, M.J., Berecek, K.H., Bishop, A.P., Raizade, M.K., & Gelband, 
C.H.  “Preventions of renovascular and cardiac pathophysiological 
changes in hypertension by angiotensin II type 1 receptor antisense 
gene therapy.”  Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. 95:2664-2669, 1998 (subsequently 
referred to as the “PNAS paper”).

F.  as Figure 5A, in Reaves, P.Y., Gelband, C.H., Wang, H., Yang, H., 
Lu, D., Berecek, K.H., Katovich, M.J., Raizada, M.K.  “Permanent 
cardiovascular protection from hypertension by the AT1 receptor 
antisense gene therapy in hypertensive rat offspring.”  Circ. Res. 
85:344-350, 1999 (subsequently referred to as the “Circ. Res. 1999 
paper”).

1.  Dr. Gelband also falsified data in the proposing of research by 
submitting the above data as Figures 3, 14A, 14B, and 15 in NIH grant 
application HL52189-05.

III.  Dr. Gelband falsified traces of potassium currents in Figure 4 of 
the J. Biol. Chem paper (see PHS Finding II) where they were claimed to 
have been recorded from smooth muscle cells from rats treated with 
antisense to potassium channels, and/or in Figure 3 of the Hypertension 
Online paper (see PHS Finding II) where they were claimed to have been 
records from rat renal cells treated with phorbol esters and PKC 
inhibitors.  Furthermore, the potassium currents were recorded from 
neurons, not from smooth muscles as falsely reported in these 
publications.

A.  Dr. Gelband falsified data in the proposing of research by 
submitting the falsified traces of potassium currents as Figure 9 in 
NIH grant application HL52189-05.
IV.  Dr. Gelband falsified data by claiming in Figure 8 of NIH grant 
application HL52189-05 and in Figure 2 of the Hypertension Online paper 
(see PHS Finding II) to have generated in his laboratory Western blot 
data on protein kinase C isoenzymes in renal vascular smooth muscle 
cells, while in fact the data were actually from cultured neurons 
collected in another laboratory and published in Pan, S.J., Zhu, M., 
Raizada, M.K., Sumners, C., & Gelband, C.H.  “Angiotensin II-mediated 
inhibition of neuronal delayed rectifier K+ current:  Role of protein 
kinase C-a.” American Journal of Physiology 281:C17-C23, 2001 
(subsequently referred to as the AJP paper).

V.  Dr. Gelband falsified data by misrepresenting experimental traces 
he provided as the unnumbered topmost figure on Page 26 of NIH grant 
application HL69034-01, as being recordings showing effect of 
indolactam inhibition in posterior cerebral arteriolar smooth muscle 
cells, while the identical tracings had been published by Dr. Gelband 
as Figures 2C and 7D of the AJP paper (see PHS Issue 4), where they had 
been reported as being tracings from neuronal cells.

VI.  Dr. Gelband falsified data in the unnumbered rightmost figure on 
Page 25 of NIH grant application HL69034-01, by misrepresenting the 
data as showing potential changes induced in cerebral arterial myocytes 
by IP3 and heparin, while the same data were published by Dr. Gelband 
as Figure 5C in a 1997 publication:  Gelband, C.H. & Gelband, H.  “CA2+ 
release from intracellular stores is an initial step in hypoxic 
pulmonary vasoconstriction of rat pulmonary artery resistance vessels.”  
Circulation 96:3647-3654, 1997 (subsequently referred to as the 
“Circulation paper”) as representing changes in intracellular calcium 
concentration of pulmonary artery cells induced by ryanodyne and 
hypoxia.

VII.  Dr. Gelband falsified electro-physiological records by reusing 
the same current-voltage trace as the resonse of renal vascular cells 
exposed for 2 seconds to Angiotensin II (Figure 4C) and to Caffeine 
(Figure 4B) on p. 124 of the publication Gelband, C.H. & Hume J.R. 
“[Ca2+]I Inhibition of K+ Channels in Canine Renal Artery.  A Novel 
Mechanism for Agonist-Induced Membrane Depolarization.”  Circulation 
Research 77(1):121-130, 1995 (subsequently referred to as the “Circ. 
Res. 1995 paper”).

A.  Dr. Gelband also submitted the falsified data above in Figure 4 in 
NIH grant application R29 JL52189-01A2.

VIII.  Dr.  Gelband fabricated laboratory research records for four 
Western blot experiments during the investigation, withholding from the 
institution his associate’s notebook from which he had removed four 
labeled autoradiographic films from separate and different experiments, 
and using the removed films to fabricate a laboratory notebook 
containing falsified Western blots, which he provided to UF as evidence 
that he had conducted the experiments under investigation.

The terms of this Agreement are as follows:

(1)  Respondent agreed to exclude himself voluntarily from any 
contracting or subcontracting with any agency of the United States 
Government and from eligibility or involvement in nonprocurement 
programs of the United States Government referred to as “covered 
transactions” as defined in the debarment regulations at 45 C.F.R. Part 
76, for a period of ten (10) years, beginning on October 3, 2003.

(2)  Respondent agreed to exclude himself voluntarily from serving in 
any advisory capacity to PHS including but not limited to service on 
any PHS advisory committee, board, and/or peer review committee, or as 
a consultant, for a period of ten (10) years, beginning on October 3, 
2003.

(3)  Within 30 days of the effective date of this Agreement, Respondent 
agreed to submit letters of retraction to the following journals 
concerning the specified data in the listed articles:

A.  Hypertension 2000 paper #1:  Figures 5, 6, and 7 merited 
retraction.  A retraction has been submitted relevant to this paper.

B.  Hypertension 2000 paper #2:  Figure 1A merited retraction.  A 
retraction has been submitted relevant to this paper.

C.  JBC paper:  Figure 2 and Figure 4 merited retraction.  It has 
already been withdrawn.

D.  Hypertension Online paper:  Figure 4A and Figure 3 merited 
retraction.  It has already been withdrawn.

E.  Hypertension 1999 paper:  Figure 3 must be retracted.

F.  PNAS paper:  Figure 4A and 4B must be retracted.

G.  Circ. Res. 1999 paper:  Figure 5A must be retracted.

H.  Circ. Res. 1995 paper:  Figure 4C or 4B must be retracted.

INQUIRIES

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