The University of Wyoming has recently come under scrutiny after it announced that it had found three individuals guilty of research misconduct in 2015 and 2021.
“Obviously, this is not something that we encourage, we’re proud of, or we endorse.” Dr. Carolyn Brandt , University of Wyoming Director of Research, Integrity and Compliance, said.
“We take this very seriously and investigate all our allegations of research misconduct in accordance with our policy.”
The individuals in question were former Pharmaceutical Science professor Dr. Jun Ren and former Biomedical Science Student Dr. Rui, who co-authored two of the retracted pieces of literature as a result of the investigation in 2021.
Dr. Yingmei Zhang, a former postdoctoral fellow, in conjunction with Dr. Jun Ren also has been found guilty in 2015 for the same charge.
“In general, the scope of the type of research that was done is biomedical research and a lot of work was related to heart disease and the molecular mechanisms of heart disease,” Brandt said.
“One of the outcomes from the research misconduct findings was a request for retractions of publications that contained data of concern.”
The contained data of concern has resulted in four retractions of published literature and additional 29 are still under request.
“None of these individuals are with the University of Wyoming anymore,” Brandt said. “We cannot as a university enforce disciplinary actions against these individuals.”
The investigation itself was run by Brandt as the acting research integrity officer during the investigation with federal oversight.
Brandt was unable to comment on if state or federal repercussions were brought against the three individuals.
“If a person were to be at a university, where they were found guilty of research misconduct, there can be very serious ramifications depending on if work was federally funded and by what federal agency,” Brandt said when responding to a question concerning the possibility of state and federal repercussions to individuals found guilty of research misconduct.
“This could lead to the inability to receive federal funds including mortgages from federally funded agencies as a result of being debarred.”
Brandt’s office is located under the department of research and economic development here at the university which strives to connect external sectors to ongoing research at the university.
“There are always going to be some bad apples,” Brandt said when asked about why she believed some researchers committed misconduct when it came to their findings.
“Some motivators may include money, prestige, ego, promotion, and then sometimes it’s a gradual shift in your mind to be able to justify little tweaks of your data here and there in order to tell your story better.”
This also damages the university’s position as it is the only research university in the state.
Brandt was also unable to comment if the University of Wyoming had suffered any specific state or federal repercussions.
“Typically, if a university has been open and transparent with the federal agencies, as they should be, the federal agencies are less likely to levy a finding or say request grant dollars be returned with involved federal funds,” Brandt said.
“However, that is certainly a possibility and many universities have had to pay back federal grants and funding to agencies due to cases of research misconduct.”
When asked if Brandt had any thoughts for the general student population this is what she had to say.
“We have training on good research practices and we would just really encourage all researchers to pay attention, sign up, attend, show up, care, and ask questions. If they ever have any questions or concerns with anything, they can always contact me, their advisor, and their fellow colleagues.”
