Scientific fraud or false claim? China confronts a research crisis
- A prominent scientist has been cleared of accusations of wrongdoing over an experiment more than two decades ago
- His accuser alleged that the results could not be reproduced, raising questions about the credibility of the country’s scientific output
Pei Gang is one of China’s top life scientists and chairman of the Chinese Academy of Sciences’ research ethics committee.
Throughout his career, Pei has shed light on how cells communicate with each other.
But in 2019 he was accused of fraud over an experiment he conducted more than two decades ago.
His accuser, Rao Yi, president of Capital Medical University, said he could not reproduce Pei’s results. The claims and counterclaims have drawn in members of the scientific establishment and gripped not only the research community but the public as well.
The case centres on an experiment Pei carried out in 1999 on the function of a cell membrane protein. Pei published his findings in the peer-reviewed journal, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America.
Then last year Rao accused Pei of cheating because he could not replicate Pei’s results. Pei promptly took Rao to court for slander and a decision is pending.