Media Coverage About SAEN Stop Animal Exploitation Now

National animal watchdog group files complaint against UW for alleged research fraud

From Josh Galemore, Trib.com, April 26, 2023

A national animal exploitation watchdog group filed a federal research misconduct complaint this week against University of Wyoming staff after the institution called for the retraction of at least 33 papers by a former research professor.

Last year, the university recommended the retraction of “several papers” by former professor Jun Ren following an investigation that found “data irregularities inconsistent with published conclusions” in his research, UW said in a statement.

The university called for 33 retractions, of which about two dozen have occurred, Stop Animal Exploitation Now said in a statement.

Stop Animal Exploitation Now, which investigates animal abuse and illegal activities at U.S. research facilities, is alleging these “data irregularities” meet the federal definition of research misconduct.
The nonprofit group called for a full federal probe in a complaint sent to the Office of Research Integrity under the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

“The sheep and mice who died for these fraudulent experiments, whose hearts were literally cut out, died to produce falsified data,” co-founder Michael A. Budkie said in the statement. “The Office of Research Integrity should throw the book at Jun Ren and his colleagues who were involved in this Research Misconduct.”

Ren made Clarivate Analytics’ list of the world’s most highly cited researchers before having multiple scientific papers retracted and leaving the university sometime during the 2019-2020 academic year.

The Office of Research Integrity’s official definition of falsification includes “manipulating research materials, equipment, or processes, or changing or omitting data or results such that the research is not accurately represented in the research record,” the statement said.

UW noted evidence of data irregularities and image reuse that significantly affected the results and conclusions reported in the manuscript, the statement said.

According to the UW retraction notice, there have been “recent institutional findings of research misconduct against a former employee, Dr. Jun Ren,” the statement said. At least one of the retracted studies lists Ren as collaborating with a facility in China.

He may now be affiliated with a different facility in China since leaving the university — the Shanghai Institute of Cardiovascular Diseases at Zhongshan Hospital of Fudan University, the statement said.

SAEN is asking for the federal office to investigate all of the UW authors associated with the retracted papers and for a response to the complaint within five days.

“This is a huge case of Research Misconduct/Fraud, and it must be dealt with swiftly,” the complaint states.

Chad Baldwin, a spokesperson for the university, provided a statement distributed last year regarding the retractions of Ren’s work.

“Ren has been found guilty of research misconduct by UW in 2015 and 2021 in two separate investigations. In an effort to correct the literature, 4 retractions have been requested based on findings of research misconduct,” the statement said.

The other 29 retraction requests were in progress as of last year, according to the statement.

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