Frances Arnold

A Caltech researcher who shared the 2018 Nobel Prize in Chemistry has retracted a 2019 paper after being unable to replicate the results.

Frances Arnold, who won half of the 2018 prize for her work on the evolution of enzymes, tweeted the news earlier today:



For my first work-related tweet of 2020, I am totally bummed to announce that we have retracted last year's paper on enzymatic synthesis of beta-lactams. The work has not been reproducible. https://t.co/Dk1TFw0FY9 — Frances Arnold (@francesarnold) January 2, 2020

It is painful to admit, but important to do so. I apologize to all. I was a bit busy when this was submitted, and did not do my job well. https://t.co/gJDU0pzlN8 — Frances Arnold (@francesarnold) January 2, 2020

The paper has been cited once, according to Clarivate Analytics’ Web of Science.

The notice went live just a few hours after Arnold’s tweet:

After publication of the Report “Site-selective enzymatic C‒H amidation for synthesis of diverse lactams” (1), efforts to reproduce the work showed that the enzymes do not catalyze the reactions with the activities and selectivities claimed. Careful examination of the first author’s lab notebook then revealed missing contemporaneous entries and raw data for key experiments. The authors are therefore retracting the paper.

The first author, Inha Cho, is no longer working in the lab, Arnold told Retraction Watch.

‘Very appreciative’ of ‘forthcoming and proactive’ approach

Holden Thorp, the editor in chief of Science, said that Arnold contacted the journal on Dec. 1 and the Science had planned to publish the retraction next week, along with the printed version in the Jan. 10 issue.

Dr. Arnold tweeted it today so we went ahead and put it up.

He added:

As I said on Twitter, we are very appreciative of Dr. Arnold and coworkers and the forthcoming and proactive way they have dealt with this.

Arnold told Retraction Watch that her lab was

not able to reproduce the results described in the paper. As we looked deeper we could not find contemporaneous data in one of the coauthor’s notebooks to support the claims.

She added:

All three coauthors agreed to the retraction and have apologized. I was in the middle of all the Nobel Prize hoopla and did not pay enough attention to this submission, so it is my fault.

She will hardly be the first Nobelist to retract a paper. The list includes Linda Buck (whose co-author was sanctioned by the U.S. ORI several years later), Michael Rosbash, Jack Szostak, and Bruce Beutler. Daniel Kahnemann has also publicly admitted errors, although he has not retracted any scholarly papers. And Paul Nurse issued a correction a few years ago.

As we noted in a STAT column last year:

The willingness to admit mistakes publicly sends a message of trustworthiness to fellow researchers.

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