By Brian Carnell

Sunday, July 6, 2003

University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill researcher Steven Leadon resigned from his position in June amid allegations that he "fabricated and falsified findings."

Leadon was a professor of radiation oncology and headed up Chapel Hill's molecular radiobiology program.

In 1998 Science published research by Leadon and four other researchers claiming to show that the BRCA1 gene plays a critical role in repairing damage to DNA. Defects in the BRCA1 gene have been associated with an increased risk of breast cancer.

Leadon was the last author on the paper which Science formally withdrew after a committee at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill judged that its findings were at least in part fraudulent.

Leadon disputes this, however, saying that although the data may be incorrect, there was no fraud involved. Leadon told the Raleigh News and Observer that he is disputing the university's finding that he fabricated any results. Leadon told The Scientist,

The pathway that we initially characterized is still a valid pathway. I think that some of the data that we had which pointed to the pathway was flawed, but fundamentally the results still stand.

Sources:

N.C. researcher resigns over allegations of fraud. Martha Waggoner, Associated Press, June 14, 2003.

Researcher Resigns Amid Fraud Allegations. HealthCentral.Com, June 14, 2003.

Repairing BRCA1 science. Peg Brickley, BiomedCentral.Com, June 18, 2003.

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