A neuroscience image sleuth finds signs of fabrication in scores of Alzheimer’s articles, threatening a reigning theory of the disease

главный поддельщик - Sylvain Lesné of the University of Minnesota (UMN), Twin Cities.

His work underpins a key element of the dominant yet controversial amyloid hypothesis of Alzheimer’s, which holds that Aβ clumps, known as plaques, in brain tissue are a primary cause of the devastating illness, which afflicts tens of millions globally.

In what looked like a smoking gun for the theory and a lead to possible therapies, Lesné and his colleagues discovered an Aβ subtype and seemed to prove it caused dementia in rats.


A 6-month investigation by Science provided strong support for Schrag’s suspicions and raised questions about Lesné’s research.


IN HIS WHISTLEBLOWER REPORT to NIH about Lesné’s research,
Schrag made its scope and stakes clear:
“[This] dossier is a fraction of the anomalies easily visible on review of the publicly accessible data,” he wrote.

The suspect work “not only represents a substantial investment in [NIH] research support, but has been cited … thousands of times and thus has the potential to mislead an entire field of research.”