In bed with Hari and Aruna

Meet the Indian husband and wife couple Hari Shanker Sharma and Aruna Sharma. They are neuroscientists and YouTube celebrities, with almost half a million subscribers and millions of views for self-posted videos by this couple kissing in bed. Or in a bathtub.

Yet I am here not to talk about this couple’s erotic exploits, which are their own and the general public’s private business, but about their Swedish fake science porn. It seems, the Sharmas, both employed by the Uppsala University, have established a private papermill, literally a book-filling one. They not only published ridiculously brain-dead fraud in peer-reviewed journals, they somehow convinced Elsevier and Springer to let them compile several tomes of neuroscience books, all by themselves. The result: every chapter is insane trash, and most of it is obviously fraudulent, as the PubPeer sleuth Dysdera arabisenen recorded.

For example, just to show you I am not exaggerating – here is a Springer book chapter starting with:

“Military personnel are often exposed to hot environments either for combat operations or peacekeeping missions. Hot environment is a severe stressful situation leading to profound hyperthermia, fatigue and neurological impairments. To avoid stressful environment, some people frequently use methamphetamine (METH) or other psychostimulants to feel comfortable under adverse situations.”

The chapter’s title and the rest of its content are utterly insane. Brain-damaged. Barking mad. Raving lunatic’s word salad. The figures are fake, reused internally and in other papers, always in a different experimental context. Yet the authors are professors, in Europe and USA. One is even a university rector, but we will get to it later.

José Vicente Lafuente , Aruna Sharma , Lianyuan Feng , Dafin F Muresanu , Ala Nozari , Z Ryan Tian , Anca D Buzoianu , Per-Ove Sjöquist , Lars Wiklund , Hari Shanker Sharma Nanowired Delivery of Mesenchymal Stem Cells with Antioxidant Compound H-290/51 Reduces Exacerbation of Methamphetamine Neurotoxicity in Hot Environment Advances in neurobiology (2023) doi: 10.1007/978-3-031-32997-5_8 

These are the two geniuses who made it up, in bed and on YouTube:

Hari and Aruna Sharma left their native India in 1986 and worked in universities in socialist Hungary and Eastern Germany (GDR). After the collapse of the Soviet colonial empire in 1992 they moved to Uppsala, where the husband obtained a medical degree in 1999. The Swedish professor who befriended and installed the Sharmas at his Department of Surgical Sciences, Anaesthesiology and Intensive Care of the University of Uppsala, was the now 80-year-old emeritus Lars Wiklund, he is co-author on over 20 fake papers by the Sharmas. Of course also Wiklund was filmed and posted on YouTube, most likely without his knowledge or permission:

I wrote about the Sharmas and some of their fake book chapters in earlier Friday Shorts. Now it turned out, their papermill also helps their friends in abroad, I will focus in particular on friends in Romania and USA.

Here are two old Sharma papers, already the classical image forgery you will find in all of his later publications.

But the story begins properly in 2012. With pig brain juice.

Cerebrolysin sounds like a fancy drug, but it is actually what it name translates as: extract from mashed pig brain. It was invented after World War 2 by the Nazi and SS member Gerhard Harrer who escaped denazification and made a huge career in Austria as university professor and clinic director, while proudly flaunting his Nazi views and sacking and suing his critics in academia (I am not making that up!). Harrer’s cerebrolysin was debunked by various studies, most recently this 2023 Cochrane Review found that totally it doesn’t help against ischaemic stroke yet “increases the number of people with serious, non-fatal unwanted effects“.

The drug is banned in USA, its distribution is illegal. Yet the cerebrolysin remains officially a “vital and essential drug” in russia, and I do believe this Nazi pig brain juice would make the perfect head trauma therapy in rascist army. More worryingly, cerebrolysin is also still approved in Harrer’s proud home country Austria (against dementia, stroke and head trauma), which makes Nazi pig brain juice perfectly legal throughout the European Union.

Now, enter the Austria pharma company Ever Pharma, which sells cerebrolysin as its main product: against Alzheimer’s, vascular dementia, stroke and craniocerebral trauma. The company is a left-over from the pre-war founded EBEWE Pharma which was sold in 2008 to Novartis. The new business was led by the Austrian biotech entrepreneur Herbert Mössler (who left Ever Pharma in 2015 as per his LinkedIn profile). Moessler had been already working for years with the Romanian neurologist and cerebrolysin enthusiast Dafin Muresanu, together they published preclinical and clinical research with the pig brain juice (earliest joint paper Muresanu et al 2002). There are however inconsistencies in their clinical methodology:

O Bajenaru, C Tiu , H Moessler , F Antochi , D Muresanu , B O Popescu , Philipp Novak Efficacy and safety of Cerebrolysin in patients with hemorrhagic stroke Journal of Medicine and Life (2010) Apr-Jun;3(2):137-43.

Soon, Hari Sharma joined: Muresanu’s first common paper with him, a book chapter in fact (Muresanu et al 2009), is about cerebrolysin of course. And here is the first obviously fraudulent one, with image fragment duplicated (usually a sign that the original labelling in stolen figures was erased):

I can’t imagine how much money Mössler’s Ever Pharma pumped into Muresanu’s and Sharma’s pockets. In one of their common (and Ever Pharma sponsored) cerebrolysin papers (Guekht et al 2017), Muresanu admitted “receipt of grants/research supports from EVER Neuro Pharma” (while Ever Pharma’s former CEO Mössler stated “no potential conflict of interest“). It is safe to assume Sharma was well-paid also.

Soon, the boys discovered nanoparticles and began to combine cerebrolysin brain cures with nanotechnology buzzwords. Hilarity ensued:

Then the boys figured out that iron nanoparticles were so yesterday and titanium nano-somethings were totally cool and in.

Lianyuan Feng , Aruna Sharma , Feng Niu , Yin Huang , José Vicente Lafuente , Dafin Fior Muresanu , Asya Ozkizilcik , Z Ryan Tian , Hari Shanker Sharma TiO-Nanowired Delivery of DL-3-n-butylphthalide (DL-NBP) Attenuates Blood-Brain Barrier Disruption, Brain Edema Formation, and Neuronal Damages Following Concussive Head Injury Molecular Neurobiology (2018) doi: 10.1007/s12035-017-0746-5 

The Mössler-Muresanu-Sharma collaboration flourished, in fact Sharma’s and Muresanu’s individual PubPeer records of over 40 papers for each almost entirely overlap. In his recent official CV, Muresanu recommends Hari Sharma for letters of reference.

The more confident Sharma and Muresanu felt, the more stupid and the more fraudulent their cerebrolysin papers became. Especially when Sharma was made his own editor and sole reviewer, as it is practice with scientific books (no, the books are only described as “peer reviewed”, in reality they are not). So here we have titanium nanowires delivered into brains to cure Alzheimer’s with cerebrolysin, in the Elsevier book Progress in Brain Research, edited by Hari and Aruna Sharma:

Hari Shanker Sharma, Dafin F Muresanu , Rudy J Castellani Ala Nozari , José Vicente Lafuente , Z Ryan Tian , Asya Ozkizilcik , Igor Manzhulo , Herbert Mössler , Aruna Sharma Nanowired delivery of cerebrolysin with neprilysin and p-Tau antibodies induces superior neuroprotection in Alzheimer’s disease Progress in Brain Research (2019) doi: 10.1016/bs.pbr.2019.03.009 

A cure for concussion, and in this case the sleuth Dysdera arabisenen found time to have a brief look at the numbers. Which proved just as fake as the images:

Aruna Sharma , Dafin F. Muresanu , Asya Ozkizilcik , Z. Ryan Tian , José Vicente Lafuente , Igor Manzhulo , Herbert Mössler , Hari Shanker Sharma Sleep deprivation exacerbates concussive head injury induced brain pathology: Neuroprotective effects of nanowired delivery of cerebrolysin with α-melanocyte-stimulating hormone Progress in Brain Research (2019) doi: 10.1016/bs.pbr.2019.03.002 

Other questionable characters joined the Sharma papermill:

• José Vicente Lafuente, neuroscientist and professor at the University of the Basque Country in Spain. Lafuente and Sharma had a shared grant with Muresanu in 2011-2015, from the European Office of Aerospace Research & Development (EOARD). Nazi pig brain juice lifts off!
• Z. Ryan Tian, nanotechnologist and associate professor at University of Arkansas Little Rock in USA.
• Ala Nozari, anaesthesiologist and professor at Boston University in USA
• Some Indian, Chinese and russian professors.

Muresanu early on also roped in his colleague Anca Buzoianu, who was at that time Dean and is since 2020 Rector of their common ”Iuliu Hatieganu” University of Medicine and Pharmacy in Cluj, the second-biggest medical school in Romania. Buzoianu is also a member of university’s ethics commission. Muresanu himself is Chair of the Neurosciences Department and has many other academic titles and positions he adds to his email signature.

Here is the result of Buzoianu’s arrival to the party, stroke cured with pig brain-soaked copper and silver nanoparticles:

Hari Shanker Sharma , Dafin Fior Muresanu , Ranjana Patnaik , Adina Dora Stan , Vitalie Vacaras , Laura Perju-Dumbrav , Badisor Alexandru , Anca Buzoianu , Iulian Opincariu , Preeti Kumaran Menon , Aruna Sharma Superior neuroprotective effects of cerebrolysin in heat stroke following chronic intoxication of Cu or Ag engineered nanoparticles. A comparative study with other neuroprotective agents using biochemical and morphological approaches in the rat Journal of Nanoscience and Nanotechnology (2011) doi: 10.1166/jnn.2011.5114 

Now, I challenge you to think of a more stupid and deranged title for a neuroscience paper. Titanium nanowires, celebrolysin and stem cells against Alzheimer’s!

Hari Shanker Sharma , Dafin F. Muresanu , Ala Nozari , José Vicente Lafuente , Anca D. Buzoianu , Seaab Sahib , Z. Ryan Tian , Igor Bryukhovetskiy , Igor Manzhulo , Preeti K. Menon , Ranjana Patnaik , Lars Wiklund , Aruna Sharma Alzheimer’s disease neuropathology is exacerbated following traumatic brain injury. Neuroprotection by co-administration of nanowired mesenchymal stem cells and cerebrolysin with monoclonal antibodies to amyloid beta peptide Progress in Brain Research (2021) doi: 10.1016/bs.pbr.2021.04.008 

From an Elsevier book to Springer book, same crazy combo against Alzheimer’s, but with a different monoclonal antibody:

Hari Shanker Sharma, Dafin F Muresanu , Ala Nozari , José Vicente Lafuente , Anca D Buzoianu , Z Ryan Tian , Hongyun Huang , Lianyuan Feng , Igor Bryukhovetskiy , Igor Manzhulo , Lars Wiklund , Aruna Sharma Neuroprotective Effects of Nanowired Delivery of Cerebrolysin with Mesenchymal Stem Cells and Monoclonal Antibodies to Neuronal Nitric Oxide Synthase in Brain Pathology Following Alzheimer’s Disease Exacerbated by Concussive Head Injury Advances in neurobiology (2023) doi: 10.1007/978-3-031-32997-5_4 

Against Parkinson’s however, stem cells, nano-wires and antibodies against random things work also without cerebrolysin:

Lianyuan Feng , Aruna Sharma , Zhenguo Wang , Dafin F. Muresanu , Z. Ryan Tian , José Vicente Lafuente , Anca D. Buzoianu , Ala Nozari , Lars Wiklund , Hari Shanker Sharma Co-administration of Nanowired DL-3-n-Butylphthalide (DL-NBP) Together with Mesenchymal Stem Cells, Monoclonal Antibodies to Alpha Synuclein and TDP-43 (TAR DNA-Binding Protein 43) Enhance Superior Neuroprotection in Parkinson’s Disease Following Concussive Head Injury Advances in neurobiology (2023) doi: 10.1007/978-3-031-32997-5_3 

Buzoianu even became first author in this Sharma-edited Springer book chapter (“Progress in Nanomedicine in Neurologic Diseases“), some soup of drugs and antibodies mixed with titanium nanowires and injected into brains to cure Parkinson’s:

Anca D Buzoianu , Aruna Sharma , Dafin F Muresanu , Lianyuan Feng , Hongyun Huang , Lin Chen , Z Ryan Tian , Ala Nozari , José Vicente Lafuente , Lars Wiklund , Hari Shanker Sharma Nanodelivery of Histamine H3/H4 Receptor Modulators BF-2649 and Clobenpropit with Antibodies to Amyloid Beta Peptide in Combination with Alpha Synuclein Reduces Brain Pathology in Parkinson’s Disease Advances in neurobiology (2023) DOI: 10.1007/978-3-031-32997-5_2

The paper shares data with another hilarious forgery in the same book, again Nazi pig brain juice soaked titanium nanowires against Alzheimer’s:

And another fake book chapter, lazily forged. Cerebrolysin cures spinal cord injury, but where are the nanowires?

Here they are! Just read the title of this Springer book chapter. Titanium nanowires, Nazi pig brain juice and, ta-da – Traditional Chinese Medicine:

Lars Wiklund , Aruna Sharma , Dafin F Muresanu , Zhiqiang Zhang , Cong Li , Z Ryan Tian , Anca D Buzoianu , José Vicente Lafuente , Ala Nozari , Lianyuan Feng , Hari Shanker Sharma TiO-Nanowired Delivery of Chinese Extract of Ginkgo biloba EGb-761 and Bilobalide BN-52021 Enhanced Neuroprotective Effects of Cerebrolysin Following Spinal Cord Injury at Cold Environment Advances in neurobiology (2023) doi: 10.1007/978-3-031-32997-5_9 

Not only cerebrolysin! Any substance can become curative when titanium nanowires are soaked in it.

Feng Niu , Aruna Sharma , Zhenguo Wang , Lianyuan Feng , Dafin F Muresanu , Seaab Sahib , Z Ryan Tian , José Vicente Lafuente , Anca D Buzoianu , Rudy J Castellani , Ala Nozari , Preeti K Menon , Ranjana Patnaik , Lars Wiklund , Hari Shanker Sharma Nanodelivery of oxiracetam enhances memory, functional recovery and induces neuroprotection following concussive head injury Progress in Brain Research (2021) doi: 10.1016/bs.pbr.2021.06.004 

The above papers shared the same data, in different context:

In that set is this paper in a peer-reviewed Springer journal, where Sharma et al suddenly discovered that nanoparticles are actually toxic:

Now, here it gets really interesting. In November 2023, the listed US-American co-author Rudolph J Castellani, professor of pathology at Northwestern University (previously at University of Maryland), commented on PubPeer:

“I did not have a chance to review this paper prior to publication. My institutional affiliation is also incorrect. I have asked Elsevier on several occasions to publish an erratum and remove my name.“

The paper also acknowledged the NIH R01 grant AG028679 and the Alzheimer’s Association grant IIRG-09-132087, which a book chapter by Sharma (Sharma et al 2021) attributed to “R.J.C.”, i.e. to Castellani. In reality, both these grants were actually assigned to two unrelated US researchers at Case Western University, neither them nor their institution were part of any of Sharmas’ studies. Here another case of these misattributed grants, flagged for a change by Cheshire, already in April 2021, and decorated with the same comment by Castellani as above:

Hari Shanker Sharma , Dafin Fior Muresanu , José Vicente Lafuente , Ranjana Patnaik, Z. Ryan Tian , Asya Ozkizilcik , Rudy J. Castellani, Herbert Mössler , Aruna Sharma Co-Administration of TiO2 Nanowired Mesenchymal Stem Cells with Cerebrolysin Potentiates Neprilysin Level and Reduces Brain Pathology in Alzheimer’s Disease Molecular Neurobiology (2018) doi: 10.1007/s12035-017-0742-9 

I contacted Castellani, and asked him for evidence for his claim of identity theft. His reply to me:

“I would thank you not to engage in slander. 

I’ve been begging the publishers dating back two years to remove my name from a number of papers. I’ve had conversations with several attorneys about it. I’m hoping they still act and publish an erratum. The excuse from the research group was that they sent the manuscripts to my U Maryland email, which ended in 2016. When they didn’t hear back, rather than try to make direct contact, I guess they assumed I approved of it. But as you pointed out, they also attributed false funding and falsely stated that I made revisions etc.  It is interesting that all these papers appeared shortly after I left U Maryland and they all (falsely) list U Maryland as my academic affiliation. The particular journals don’t require independent confirmation directly from the authors. 

I met the lead authors through a collaborator and we wrote a couple inconsequential papers around 2011, 2012. That was it until this latest fiasco. I was never part of their research group. 

Yes I can prove my many contacts with the publishers.  You’re not the first person to harass me about this.“

I followed up on Castellani’s offer to share some of the messages he may have exchanged with the publishers in this regard. He refused, so I said I will have to cite his refusal. Castellani’s reply:

“So now blackmail, in addition to libel.“

Is it really slander, libel and even blackmail to state the fact that his name is on these fraudulent papers? Especially since Castellani actually used to do this himself, until late November 2023, or at least allowed his employer to do this for him? On his public and official institutional webpage, see online archived record. Countless common papers with Sharmas proudly listed, a dozen on cerebrolysin alone. The publication list was purged of Sharma papers just days ago, in December 2023. Here, look, that very same Sharma et al 2023 paper:

However, it is true: at some point, Castellani did ask the publishers for his name to be removed from Sharma’s papers. No Castellani on the Elsevier website, he was stealthily removed, while the PubMed record (and presumably also the printed book) still lists him as coauthor of this chapter:

Same mysterious disappearance of Castellani took place in other Elsevier book chapters, for example Niu et al 2020, Sharma et al 2020a, Sharma et al 2020b, Sharma et al 2021…. Again, we don’t know when Castellani approached the publishers with his request, maybe years ago, maybe just recently, after the first PubPeer posts appeared. Maybe this is why he refuses to share those emails? Another example with Vanishing Rudy – Parkinson’s cured with titanium nanowires soaked in something:

Aruna Sharma, Dafin F Muresanu , Ranjana Patnaik , Preeti K Menon , Z Ryan Tian , Seaab Sahib , Rudy J Castellani, Ala Nozari , José Vicente Lafuente , Anca D Buzoianu , Stephen D Skaper , Igor Bryukhovetskiy , Igor Manzhulo , Lars Wiklund , Hari Shanker Sharma Histamine H3 and H4 receptors modulate Parkinson’s disease induced brain pathology. Neuroprotective effects of nanowired BF-2649 and clobenpropit with anti-histamine-antibody therapy Progress in Brain Research (2021) doi: 10.1016/bs.pbr.2021.06.003 

Also on this stupidly named book chapter (they even somehow dragged diabetes in!), with Muresanu as first author, Castellani’s name disappeared, silently and without any notice of correction:

In October 2023, I also contacted Muresanu and Buzoianu. They sent me a whole letter, excerpt:

“While our involvement in these research papers aligns with the authorship criteria set by the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (i.e., we have made substantial contributions to the work, critically reviewed it for intellectual content, approved the final versions to be published), the object of these allegations is entirely related to images/figures of experimental work performed outside our university. It is paramount to emphasize that we had neither implication in nor knowledge until today of these suspicions of misconduct. Our expertise does not encompass pathology, and as such, we had placed significant trust in the technical robustness and authenticity of the images provided by Prof. Sharma and his team, who conducted all related procedures in Sweden. Among the co-authors of these papers are world-leading pathologists, further cementing our trust in the validity of the presented results.”

They also found the main problem. No, not Sharma. The peer review. Of books which aren’t even peer-reviewed:

“Peer review, while an essential component of scientific publication, is imperfect and occasionally prone to oversight. The very fact that discrepancies in our collaborative works went unnoticed for years, despite some concerns being voiced on platforms like PubPeer, underscores the need for continuous improvement in the review process. […] In the pursuit of transparency and accountability, we call upon the scientific community to collectively address and rectify the flaws in the peer-review process.”

Buzuianu and Muresanu also announced:

“We wholeheartedly support the retraction of any research proven to be compromised and advocate for comprehensive investigations into these
allegations. Our primary goal is to uphold the pillars of scientific truth and integrity.”

Here is the full letter:

I exchanged more emails with Buzoianu and Muresanu, and this is what they told me about their exact contribution to their papers with Sharmas:

“We were involved in these projects at all levels except Swedish lab procedures and the interpretation of images outside our areas of expertise: conceptualization, design, support in revising documents to obtain funding from various sources, discussing results and drafting/reviewing manuscripts. “

About their encounters with Sharma:

“Dr. Sharma has visited our university many times over the last decade and has held several lectures within our international doctoral school. During those visits, we also discussed these projects. We also had several working meetings at SSNN and European Association for Clinical Pharmacology and Therapeutics congresses, spanning several years. My colleague prof. Dafin Muresanu had several work visits in Sweden where Dr. Sharma presented the facilities where the animal studies were conducted. Furthermore, the articles were co-authored by prestigious pathology professors, such as Rudy Castellani, so we did not feel the need to reinterpret the images and have based our discussion of results on what was provided to us by Dr. Sharma. Therefore, we had no reason to suspect any misconduct.”

Muresanu then confirmed to me to have personally spoken to Castellani at conferences many times and almost annually between 2007 and 2017.

But what about those first author papers Buzuianu and Muresanu have with Sharma? First author is generally the lead scientist of the project.

“Our positioning as first authors was done by Dr. Sharma without our approval, and we had no awareness this was the case. We approved manuscripts via email, but the authorship order was set by the corresponding author. We certainly did not coordinate these projects and were not PIs on the obtained grants.”

I struggle to believe Sharma put people on his papers, even in first position, without their knowledge.

So what about those planned retractions? Buzoianu told me:

“I am in the process of initiating retractions for the articles which have not been validated by me. For the rest, I will wait for an official resolution from investigating bodies.”

Will there be an investigation in Romania? Buzoianu explained:

“We do have institutional IRB and university ethics boards, but I think the approach to have objective, third-party sources evaluate this issue is the best way. Even if we did launch an internal investigation, there would be questions regarding the perceived conflict of interest interest, as you say.”

The University of Uppsala and the Swedish National Board for the Assessment of Research Misconduct (NPOF) are investigating this affair. And Muresanu even told me he would be willing to ask NPOF to investigate him even though as a foreign coauthor he is outside of its authority. He also said he will contact the National Bioethics Committee in Romania to “see if there are any options in this case” in investigating his responsibility on Sharma’s fake papers.

But do Buzoianu and Muresanu really think they can paint themselves as honest scientists and innocent victims? Believe what you want about cerebrolysin, but shouldn’t neurologists and pharmacologists know that it is insane to inject metal nanogarbage into brains in the first place?

Stop drinking pig brain juice, people.

Note: I have not checked if there are other kinds of amateur videos by the Sharmas on adult websites, but you go ahead.

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