A former postdoc at the U.S. National Cancer Institute (NCI) made up data for 59 experiments that never happened, according to new findings by the U.S. Office of Research Integrity.

The ORI found that Rahul Agrawal “knowingly, intentionally, and/or recklessly falsified and/or fabricated:”

qRT-PCR data in fifty-nine (59) Excel files by:

— conceiving Cycle Threshold (CT) values and PCR machine run identification numbers and run dates for fifty-nine (59) experiments that were not conducted

— inserting falsified and/or fabricated CT values in fifty-four (54) files that originated from one (1) Excel template with a single file creation date to represent distinct experimental runs with different experimental dates in exported Excel files from the PCR machine

— utilizing an earlier PCR machine calibration date in four (4) Excel files to represent experiments completed at a later date

CFC and FF assay images in four (4) PowerPoint files by:

— representing eight (8) images of CFC and FF assays in cell culture plates as the overexpression of LINC00379 or LINC00380 in human alveolar rhabdomyosarcoma RD and Rh41 cells when the cultured cells did not overexpress the specific LINC RNA