Schatten cleared

A Pitt research integrity panel found that Dr. Gerald Schatten – who coauthored a paper… A Pitt research integrity panel found that Dr. Gerald Schatten – who coauthored a paper reporting successful human stem cell cloning – is not guilty of committing “scientific misconduct.” The panel did, however, identify shortcomings in Schatten’s responsibilities as a coauthor and researcher.

Schatten severed his ties with discredited Seoul National University researcher Dr. Woo-Suk Hwang, after it was made known that a staff member on the project donated eggs for the research. Hwang later admitted that some of his findings had been fabricated.

The journal Science published the team’s study last summer and recently retracted the paper, which offered hopes of better curing diseases through efficient means of human embryo cloning.

Pitt’s six-member investigative panel convened in December.

Last week, the panel released a summary of its findings, which concluded Schatten neglected his obligations as coauthor, but was not involved in falsifying data.

“We conclude that Dr. Schatten likely did not intentionally falsify or fabricate experimental data, and that there is no evidence that he was aware of the misconduct reported to have occurred in Dr. Hwang’s group in Korea,” the report stated. But it went on to say that “Dr. Schatten shirked [the responsibilities of a coauthor], a serious failure that facilitated the publication of falsified experiments in Science magazine.”

As noted in the investigative report, Schatten’s responsibilities included “approval of the manuscript” and responsibility for the “veracity of the data reported.”

The panel concluded that this does not constitute research misconduct by the University’s standards, but it does exemplify “research misbehavior.”

The investigative panel felt that Schatten “did not exercise a sufficiently critical perspective as a scientist,” according to its report.

The panel commended Schatten’s efforts, however, in promptly reporting allegations of Hwang’s misconduct, disassociating himself from Hwang’s research and urging Science to issue a retraction.

Schatten could not be contacted for comment.

Jerome Rosenberg, the University’s research integrity officer, assisted the panel during the investigation.

Rosenberg said he doesn’t foresee any apprehension at Pitt toward working with other researchers from South Korea.

“We don’t find guilt by association,” he said.

Schatten teaches cell biology and physiology at Pitt’s School of Medicine; vice chairs the department of obstetrics, gynecology and reproductive sciences; serves as the deputy director of the Magee-Women’s Research Institute and directs the Pittsburgh Development Center.

A release from the University said that Schatten remains as a tenured professor and active researcher at Pitt.

“As recommended by the panel, further corrective action, if any, will be at the discretion of the dean, and, like all other such personnel matters, is confidential,” the release stated.