StemCell Therapy

A 1989 paper by Russian researcher Dmitrii Kuznetsov on the genetics of wild timber voles has been retracted, decades after a scientist alerted the journal to concerns, according to Retraction Watch. The paper, published in the International Journal of Neuroscience, has been touted by creationists as evidence of their beliefs, and Kuznetsov has repeatedly been accused of scientific misconduct, The Scientist reported in 2013.

In the paper, Kuznetsov reportedly identified an mRNA from one vole species that blocked protein synthesis in a related vole species. That same mRNA, however, did not block translation in the original vole species or another species that was more distantly related. The finding, Kuznetsov wrote in his report, supported the general creationist concept on the problems of the origin of boundless multitudes of different and harmonically functioning forms of life.

Five years after the paper was published, Dan Larhammar, a cell and molecular biologist at Uppsala University in Sweden, wrote to the journal editors discounting Kuznetsovs paper, saying his approach goes against established scientific experience and his claimed results are not qualitatively demonstrated, and that Kuznetsovs critique of a modern molecular-genetic concept of biological evolution has no scientific basis whatsoever. Larhammar learned last year that despite his criticism more than two decades earlier, Kuznetsovs paper was still available without a retraction label, he tells Retraction Watch, which was especially concerning given that repeated accusations of fraudallegedly making up citations and fabricating the sources of samplesled to Kuznetsovs ouster as editor-in-chief of two journals in 2013.

After a series of emails between Larhammar, now president of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences, and the International Journal of Neurosciences editor, the Kuznetsov paper now has a retraction stamp, which states: The above article has been retracted due to the unreliable nature of the experimental results presented.

Ashley Yeager is an associate editor at The Scientist. Email her at ayeager@the-scientist.com.

Read the original post:
Paper Used in Creationist Teaching Retracted After 30 Years - The Scientist

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