S.F. scientist resigns after faking data S.F. RESEARCH

Dr. Joseph Muchowski (left) and his son Dr. Paul Muchowski (right) discovered a compound that could be used to slow down the progression of Alzheimer's at Gladstone Institutes in San Francisco, Calif., as they talk about their progress on Monday, February 13, 2011. less Dr. Joseph Muchowski (left) and his son Dr. Paul Muchowski (right) discovered a compound that could be used to slow down the progression of Alzheimer's at Gladstone Institutes in San Francisco, Calif., as they ... more Photo: Liz Hafalia, The Chronicle Photo: Liz Hafalia, The Chronicle Image 1 of / 1 Caption Close S.F. scientist resigns after faking data 1 / 1 Back to Gallery

A scientist at San Francisco's Gladstone Institutes has resigned after admitting to making up data on grant applications submitted to the National Institutes of Health.

Paul Muchowski was an investigator at Gladstone studying a compound that has potential to protect the brains of people suffering from Alzheimer's or Huntington's disease.

The federal Office of Research Integrity announced last Friday that Muchowski had admitted to "falsifying and fabricating data" on several applications, including one that received funding from the National Institutes of Health.

Specifically, Muchowski admitted to reporting fake results from early experiments that had not been done at the time the grant applications were submitted. As a result of the findings, Muchowski has agreed to have his research supervised for two years.

The misconduct findings apply only to Muchowski's research applications, and not to scientific work that was published. In an interview Monday, Muchowski declined to comment in detail on the findings, but he noted that none of his published work will be retracted.

"The research isn't questioned, and the scientific field wasn't led astray by fake data," he said.

The case against Muchowski does not prevent him from keeping his current grant money or applying for future grants, although it could make such endeavors very difficult, said scientists not involved in the case.

The investigation started several months ago, when a colleague of Muchowski alleged instances of scientific misconduct. Muchowski resigned from Gladstone in November, before the federal sanctions against him were announced.

"As individuals and as an institution, we at Gladstone stand for, and insist upon, the highest standards of integrity in all that we do," said Dr. R. Sanders Williams, president of Gladstone, in a statement.

"But human beings are fallible, and examples of misconduct are an unfortunate possibility in any organization or community," Williams said. "We are saddened by this event, but heartened that our research culture encouraged a colleague of Dr. Muchowski to alert us to this matter."

Muchowski was featured in a profile in The Chronicle last February. The article discussed Muchowski's work with his father, Joseph Muchowski, and a third scientist from the University of Maryland. Neither the elder Muchowski nor the third scientist was included in the federal sanctions.