Schneider Shorts 25.07.2025 – At the borderline of scientific misconduct

Schneider Shorts of 25 July 2025 – Iranian papermiller investigated in Germany and Australia, another Iranian papermiller works for Church, with magic mushrooms, big money from Turkey, corrections and retractions for Italian scholars, and finally, the many things one can do with francium.

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Science Elites

An undisclosed amount of money

On 16 July 2025, STAT News brought this article:

“Under the deal announced Monday, İş Private Equity, a Turkish firm, has committed $39 million to a laboratory run by Gökhan Hotamışlıgil, a professor of genetics and metabolism at the T.H. Chan School of Public Health. The firm, which is a branch of Turkey’s İşbank Group, also plans to invest an undisclosed amount of money in any drug candidates that come out of Hotamışlıgil’s laboratory and are moved into a new biotech called Enlila.”

The rest is heavily paywalled, but there is a press release by Isbank, which also doesn’t say how much additional money Gökhan Hotamisligil and his anti-aging company Enilla will receive. We are told by Harvard that “The science at the heart of the collaboration revolves around a fatty-acid-binding protein known as FABP4“, and that mice treated with a relevant antibody which Hotamisligil developed, miraculously “did not develop metabolic diseases, even in response to stressors“.

For me, the name of this lucky Harvard professor immediately rang a bell. At that time, Hotamisligil already had a PubPeer record, including with the Californian Count Fakula, Michael Karin.

An utter train wreck of fake western blots (Hirosumi et al 2002) by Hotamisligil and Karin was corrected in June 2023, by Nature no less, with this insane statement:

“As the raw data for the blots used in the manuscript are no longer available, unfortunately we cannot ascertain the issue with the figure. Figures 1 and 2 of this correction show contemporaneous replicate blots.”

In the article above, I also wrote about Hotamisligil’s mentee – his fellow Turkish native, and now a fellow Harvard professor, Umut Ozcan. Who was accused by his postdocs of research fraud, bullying, racism and sexual harassment (read this file). However, Ozcan was totally supported by Harvard Medical School, so that the victims who tried to sue Ozcan and Harvard were eventually forced to accept an unfavourable settlement in court, and sign NDAs.

Here an old paper by Hotamisligil with his mentee Ozcan, plus another Harvard professor called Brendan Manning (mentioned in this November 2020 article). On PubPeer since 2015:

Umut Ozcan, Lale Ozcan , Erkan Yilmaz , Katrin Düvel , Mustafa Sahin, Brendan D. Manning, Gökhan S. Hotamisligil Loss of the tuberous sclerosis complex tumor suppressors triggers the unfolded protein response to regulate insulin signaling and apoptosis Molecular Cell (2008) doi: 10.1016/j.molcel.2007.12.023 

Thus, as soon as I saw the news that Hotamisligil is now showeved with many millions from the biggest national bank of authoritarian Turkey, I went to the sleuth chat on Slack to ask experts to have another look into Hotamisligil’s papers.

By sheer coincidence, on 7 July 2025 Retraction Watch referred to the news of Isbank money and, importantly, presented new PubPeer findings by Reese Richardson for two papers by Hotamisligil, Lynes et al 2017 and Leiria et al 2019. But my worries were misplaced: Reese assured me that he doesn’t read that Slack channel. But another sleuth, Aneurus Inconstans read my request, and shared with me the findings. Here is something very relevant to Enilla business with FABP4:

Jeffrey B. Boord, Kazuhisa Maeda , Liza Makowski , Vladimir R. Babaev , Sergio Fazio , MacRae F. Linton, Gökhan S. Hotamisligil Combined Adipocyte-Macrophage Fatty Acid–Binding Protein Deficiency Improves Metabolism, Atherosclerosis, and Survival in Apolipoprotein E–Deficient Mice Circulation (2004) doi: 10.1161/01.cir.0000141735.13202.b6 

Another paper by Hotamisligil with the Vanderbilt professors MacRae Linton and Sergio Fazio:

Vladimir R. Babaev, Robert P. Runner , Daping Fan , Lei Ding , Youmin Zhang , Huan Tao , Ebru Erbay , Cem Z. Görgün , Sergio Fazio , Gökhan S. Hotamisligil, MacRae F. Linton Macrophage Mal1 Deficiency Suppresses Atherosclerosis in Low-Density Lipoprotein Receptor–Null Mice by Activating Peroxisome Proliferator-Activated Receptor-γ–Regulated Genes Arteriosclerosis, Thrombosis, and Vascular Biology (2011) doi: 10.1161/atvbaha.111.225839 

Another old study by Hotamisligil with Linton and Fazio (Makowski et al 2001) was posted on PubPeer in 2020 for gel duplication. Two more findings of duplicated gels by Aneurus:

This rots on PubPeer already since 2016, and the gel sections are clearly cloned, amazing work with the tools of that time:

K. Teoman Uysal , Sarah M. Wiesbrock , Gökhan S. Hotamisligil Functional analysis of tumor necrosis factor (TNF) receptors in TNF-alpha-mediated insulin resistance in genetic obesity Endocrinology (1998) doi: 10.1210/endo.139.12.6337 

Worth correcting are the Hotamisligil papers Sankale et al 2006 and Samad et al 1999. This is on PubPeer since 2019:

Lunhua Liu , Karen Etsuko Inouye , Windy Rose Allman , Adam Steven Coleman , Shafiuddin Siddiqui , Gökhan Siddik Hotamisligil, Mustafa Akkoyunlu TACI-Deficient Macrophages Protect Mice Against Metaflammation and Obesity-Induced Dysregulation of Glucose Homeostasis Diabetes (2018) doi: 10.2337/db17-1089 

In May 2019, the last author Mustafa Akkoyunlu, who now leads a lab at US FDA, posted two pictures of raw data to claim that “The two proteins appear same but they are not“. As a PubPeer user commented, “Those just look like different exposures at different magnifications“. Another PubPeer user detected evidence for smudge tool having been used on the MW markers in the alleged raw data.

Hotamisligil knows of problems with his papers, but he only issues corrections where necessary. Like here, the image was not just duplicated, its brightness was changed:

Amir Tirosh, Gurol Tuncman , Ediz S. Calay , Moran Rathaus , Idit Ron , Amit Tirosh , Abdullah Yalcin , Yankun G. Lee , Rinat Livne , Sophie Ron , Neri Minsky , Ana Paula Arruda, Gökhan S. Hotamisligil Intercellular Transmission of Hepatic ER Stress in Obesity Disrupts Systemic Metabolism Cell Metabolism (2021) doi: 10.1016/j.cmet.2020.11.009 

This was corrected already in 2009:

Sara N. Vallerie , Masato Furuhashi , Raquel Fucho , Gökhan S. Hotamisligil A predominant role for parenchymal c-Jun amino terminal kinase (JNK) in the regulation of systemic insulin sensitivity PLOS One (2008) doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0003151 

Before the İşbank money windfall, Hotamisligil’s lab was sponsored by the Turkish billionaire Murat Ülker (owner of one of the largest food companies in the world), who financed with $24 million the Sabri Ülker Center for Nutrient, Genetic, and Metabolic Research at Harvard.

Even without Trump’s de-funding, Harvard would never touch a professor who brings in first 24 and then 39 million dollars. Heck, if any whistleblowers in Hitamisligil’s lab ever raise a voice, they will end up begging to share the fate of Ozcan whistleblowers.

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At the borderline of scientific misconduct

The University of Jena in Germany now found their Iranian PhD student Mohammad Taheri guilty of research misconduct.

Taheri’s closest collaborator is a certain Soudeh Ghafouri-Fard, who in turn is married to one of Iranian regime’s top officials, Mehdi Akhavan Behabadi, Secretary of Supreme Council of Cyberspace, head of National Center of Cyberspace, and former government deputy minister. Read about them here:

On 21 July 2025, the sleuth Alexander Magazinov and yours truly received this official letter from the President of the University of Jena, Andreas Marx (a chemistry professor who took this rectorship office in August 2024, i.e. months after his university received our notification and opened an investigation against Taheri and his PhD supervisor at the University Clinic Jena and fellow Persian, Aria Baniahmad. The latter is the Ombudsman for research integrity at the medical faculty in Jena, but on leave from this office since at least May 2024.

Ombudsahmad remains on leave because he has several very problematic papers with Taheri, for which he just barely avoided to be found guilty of research misconduct himself. Here is Marx’s letter (highlights mine):

“Dear Mr. Magazinov, dear Mr. Schneider,
the Executive Board of Friedrich Schiller University Jena has reviewed the allegations made by you in February 2024 against Mr. Mohammad Taheri concerning a violation of good research practice. Following a procedure conducted under the Statutes on Ensuring Good Research Practice at the University of Jena and based on the report of the Commission for Good Research Practice at the University of Jena, the Executive Board has determined that a violation of good research practice – and thus scientific misconduct – has occurred. The President has issued a reprimand to Mr. Mohammad Taheri.

The misconduct was found in the failure to consider retractions in at least three cases. In addition, many of the publications violate the principle to avoid splitting results into inappropriately small publications. No further specific deficiencies could be determined. However, it was also not possible – and not necessary for the determination of misconduct – to examine every single article in detail. However, I would like to point out that Mr Taheri is no longer employed at the University Hospital.

In a separate procedure, the Commission also examined whether Mr. Taheri’s supervisor, Prof. Dr. Aria Baniahmad, violated good scientific practice in the course of his supervision. According to the unanimous view of the Commission, Mr. Baniahmad’s conduct was at the borderline of scientific misconduct, but did not cross it, and therefore no further measures were necessary.

Finally, I would like to thank you once again for your valuable input regarding possible violations of good research practice.”

There are several points in this letter worth discussing. First of all, Taheri was found guilty of research misconduct for the crimes of citing retracted papers and salami-publishing. Not for publishing more than 660 clinical studies (of those 90 flagged on PubPeer) which are most likely completely fabricated because the alternative is even worse: many of these human research studies lack a proper ethics approval.

But good to know that German universities do have extremely tough rules on research integrity, only that those are applied very selectively to very select people. And not really to well-connected full professors like Baniahmad.

A week before the University of Jena made their final decision I sent them this recent paper, published by Baniahmad and “Taheri, Mohammad PhD” on 26 March 2025:

Mohammad Taheri , Katrin Schindler , Aria Baniahmad The lncRNAs PART1 and ADAMTS9-AS2 act in an antithetic manner on AR signaling and induction of cellular senescence in prostate cancer cells International journal of surgery (2025) doi: 10.1097/js9.0000000000002334 

Where does one so easily get the bodies of 20 dead men under 40? Well, in Iran this is the perfect age for men to be executed for protesting against the regime. Maybe the Nuremberg Code does not apply to German medical researchers? After all, the study has an ethics approval, and who cares it goes against §23 of the Helsinki Declaration of 1964:

As I wrote in the article below, Taheri graduated with PhD under Baniahmad’s supervision in spring 2025. The PhD defence was not publicly announced, but Taheri shared photos on his now deleted LinkedIn profile. Thing is, even without the official research fraud findings it should have been impossible for Taheri to graduate in Jena, according to their own rules (see §19 for example). That’s because Taheri already has a PhD degree from Iran, and even if he did not have it, he would have committed title fraud, because he paraded for years as a PhD on all possible internet websites. Read about Taheri’s graduation here:

I asked the Marx to comment on Taheri’s successful PhD defence, and I also asked for a digital copy of his dissertation. I got silence back.

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University dean under investigation after Retraction Watch report

We remain on the topic of Mohammad Taheri of University of Jena in Germany, and his closest collaborator Soudeh Ghafouri-Fard, who, may I remind you, is married to one of the top officials of the Iranian regime.

The following paper by Taheri and Ghafouri-Rad was also coauthored by Marcel Dinger, then Head of School for Biotechnology and Biomolecular Sciences at University of New South Wales (UNSW), and now Dean of Science at the University of Sydney in Australia. I wrote about Dinger’s past collaboration with Taheri in May 2024 Shorts. The clinical study is a typical Taheri fabrication of bullshit genetics, and of course it lacks an ethics approval (not that anyone at University of Jena gives a toss). You will soon see why Taheri is not listed as author:

Soudeh Ghafouri-Fard , Bahdar Mahmud Hussen , Sara Pashmforoush , Mohammad Taghi Akbari , Shahram Arsang-Jang , Naghme Nazer , Amir Ali Hamidieh , Abbas Hajifathali , Marcel E. Dinger, Arezou Sayad, Mohammadreza Ostadali Dehaghi HLA alleles and haplotype frequencies in Iranian population Human Antibodies (2022) doi: 10.3233/hab-220004   

The paper received an Expression of Concern on 8 July 2025 (highlight mine):

“Sage has been made aware of an ongoing investigation by The University of New South Wales’ Conduct and Integrity Office into this article.

This expression of concern will remain in place until this investigation has been completed, and we are aware of its final outcomes.”

Yes, Dinger the Dean-ger is now under investigation by his former employer UNSW. On 20 May 2025, I contacted Dinger and his the leadership of his current employer, the University of Sydney, about this and other papers with Taheri. Dinger wrote to me back then:

“This paper was originally submitted to Genomics and Mohamed was an author on this submission. It was rejected from this journal.
It’s publication in Human Antibody occurred without my consent.”

You see, Taheri jumped off as coauthor because he had to act as editor to get this paper published after the previous rejection at Genomics. Why am I so sure? Well, Taheri is still listed on the editorial board of Human Antibodies!

Two days after my May 2024 Shorts, Retraction Watch brought their totally independent reporting of Dinger’s papers with Taheri. It was a sexclusive:

“The dean of science at the University of Sydney is reassessing a series of review papers after commenters on PubPeer pointed out each cited several retracted articles, Retraction Watch has learned.”

There was of course no reference to For Better Science where Retraction Watch originally learned all these things. The sleuth and original author of the Taheri article, Alexander Magazinov, got mentioned in the Retraction Watch article, but never contacted for an interview.

But Dinger was interviewed by Retraction Watch. There, in May 2025, he announced to post the correct ethics approval, which however never happened:

“Regarding another post on PubPeer questioning the ethics approval of a research paper, “HLA alleles and haplotype frequencies in Iranian population,” Dinger said his co-authors have the correct approvals for the work. He has asked them to respond on PubPeer “to clear the record on this matter.””

Instead, Ghafouri-Fard went to PubPeer to complain about “baseless comments” by inexperienced critics. She assured that “Our study is among the pioneering investigations” and concluded: “These uninformed comments lack scientific evidence and demonstrate a misunderstanding of both genetics and the ethnic and population distribution in Iran.“

In July 2025, Retraction Watch brought another article about Dinger, because a paper with Taheri got retracted. This one, it featured in the original May 2024 Shorts:

Mohammad Taheri , Bashdar Mahmud Hussen , Farhad Tondro Anamag , Hamed Shoorei , Marcel E. Dinger, Soudeh Ghafouri-Fard The role of miRNAs and lncRNAs in conferring resistance to doxorubicin Journal of Drug Targeting (2022) doi: 10.1080/1061186x.2021.190905

“Since publication, a concern has been raised about the relevance and accuracy of some of the references which were cited in the article.

When approached for an explanation, the authors responded to our questions. Although some of the problematic references have been retracted after the publication of this Review article, our concerns around the relevance and accuracy of other references remain. As a result, the Editorial Team and the Publisher no longer have confidence in the content presented.

As verifying the validity of published work is core to the integrity of the scholarly record, we are therefore retracting the article. The corresponding author listed in this publication has been informed. The authors do not agree with the retraction.”

Retraction 29 May 2025

Once again Magazinov was not contacted, but both Dinger and Taheri were interviewed by Retraction Watch. Why indeed would Retraction Watch talk to amateurs like Magazinov when they have two sleuths-in-residence, sponsored by covid-contrarian George Tidmarsh (read March 2025 Shorts) whom Trump and RFK Jr just installed as FDA’s top drug regulator.

Rest assured, dear reader, that in a few days Retraction Watch will bring an article about this Expression of Concern, and it will be likely titled:

“University dean under investigation after Retraction Watch report/coverage/inquiry“

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Scholarly Publishing

With the same instrumentation

A correction for some very fine European scholars. The University of Sussex professor Alan Lehmann is the former postdoctoral advisor of the infamous cheater Maria Fousteri. Together they published a paper which was determined by Fousteri’s former employer LUMC Leiden to be fraudulent, but then Lehman used his power and networks to prevent that retraction. Read here:

The University of Strasbourg professor Jean-Marc Egly, who is another collaborator of Fousteri’s and yes, also Egly prevented a retraction of their joint paper despite its proven fraudulence. The Strasbourg professor is also France’s top expert on research integrity – he investigated the fallen CNRS president Anne Peyroche (read October 2018 article). Egly himself published quite a number of problematic papers, see on PubPeer and read here:

The following study was done in collaboration with Italian peers led by Donata Orioli of CNR Institute in Pavia, and Miria Stefanini of CNR institute in Rome. The latter is even a Top Italian Scientist, and more importantly, she is coauthor on that same fraudulent Theron, Fousteri et al Molecular Cell 2005 paper which Lehmann heroically saved from retraction.

Lavinia Arseni , Manuela Lanzafame , Emmanuel Compe , Paola Fortugno , António Afonso-Barroso , Fiorenzo A. Peverali , Alan R. Lehmann , Giovanna Zambruno , Jean-Marc Egly , Miria Stefanini, Donata Orioli TFIIH-dependent MMP-1 overexpression in trichothiodystrophy leads to extracellular matrix alterations in patient skin Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (2015) doi: 10.1073/pnas.1416181112 

The sleuth Claire Francis notified Lehmann’s employer, the University of Sussex, in January 2025. Caroline Gordon, Head of Research Ethics, Integrity and Governance, replied right away and ordered the sleuth to fill out a proforma and reveal their identity. Same Gordon later decided that the Sussex professor Gordon Ferns was totally innocent despite the fraud in his papers with Iranian papermillers, some of which were even retracted. Read here:

It is therefore a miracle that this clown university even allowed for a Correction, which appeared on 23 May 2025:

“The authors note that Fig. 4 appeared incorrectly. “All upper panels in Figure 4 show the collagen fibers in lattices embedded with primary dermal fibroblasts isolated from a healthy donor (Normal F) and stained with Masson Trichrome Goldner. They represent the control experiment. In the original figure, we selected for panel A the same field at higher magnification shown in panel B because it contains a considerable number of cells and presents similar staining intensity compared to the other images. The duplicate image has been replaced in panel A in the corrected figure using data from a different replicate of control samples (Normal Fibroblasts), performed in the same period, with the same instrumentation.” The corrected figure and its legend appear below. The online version has been corrected.”

Here is another bad paper by Stefanini, Lehmann and Egly, on PubPeer since 2019, but luckily published in a journal which never retracts or even corrects anything:

Elena Botta , Tiziana Nardo , Alan R Lehmann , Jean-Marc Egly, Antonia M Pedrini , Miria Stefanini Reduced level of the repair/transcription factor TFIIH in trichothiodystrophy Human Molecular Genetics (2002) doi: 10.1093/hmg/11.23.2919 

Stefanini has more problematic papers on PubPeer. And so does Egly.

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Retraction Watchdogging

Remarks can be agreed upon

We remain in Italy. Salvatore Cuzzocrea used to be the rector of the University of Messina and one of the biggest bigwigs in Italian academia. Thus, it was a rational and clever career move to always add him as your coauthor, especially if he used to be your mentor.

But now some people retract papers because they added Cuzzocrea, which draw the attention of the sleuth Aneurus Inconstans. In January 2025 Shorts, I wrote about Cuzzocrea’s former PhD student Alessio Peritore being struck with retractions. Now meet another such victim, the Messina professor Rosanna Di Paola, the former PhD student of Cuzzocrea and Achille Caputi.

This paper, by Di Paola, Cuzzo and Peritore was now retracted, as it happens its first author Daniela Impellizzeri is another former PhD student of Cuzzocrea’s and now associate professor in Messina:

Daniela Impellizzeri, Rosalba Siracusa, Marika Cordaro, Alessio Filippo Peritore, Enrico Gugliandolo, Ramona D’amico , Roberta Fusco, Rosalia Crupi, Enrico Rizzarelli, Salvatore Cuzzocrea, Susanna Vaccaro , Mariafiorenza Pulicetta , Valentina Greco , Sebastiano Sciuto, Antonella Schiavinato , Luciano Messina , Rosanna Di Paola Protective effect of a new hyaluronic acid -carnosine conjugate on the modulation of the inflammatory response in mice subjected to collagen-induced arthritis Biomedicine & pharmacotherapy (2020) doi: 10.1016/j.biopha.2020.110023 

In November 2023, the coauthor Sebastiano Sciuto wrote on PubPeer:

“The remarks can be agreed upon. My and Dr. Greco’s contribution to the work was mainly aimed at the synthesis and analysis of the chemical and spectroscopic properties of the conjugate.“

The retraction appeared in July 2025:

“This article has been retracted at the request of the Editor-in-Chief.

Concern was raised regarding Figs. 9 and 10, as listed on PubPeer: https://pubpeer.com/publications/B235DFCB61033538ACB2B2234CC63B?utm_source=Chrome&utm_medium=BrowserExtension&utm_campaign=Chrome

. Furthermore, the Journal’s own analysis highlighted other concerning overlaps between figures 8b and 10b, as well as figures 9 g and 10a.

The journal requested that the authors provide a detailed explanation and a response to the concerns raised on PubPeer, along with the raw data associated with their article. The Authors responded with a lengthy response, the data and the replicates, but there was still a lack of clarity in adequately addressing the concerns.

The Editor-in-Chief assessed the case and decided to retract the article.”

I made an illustration:

Several previous retractions for Di Paolo with her mentors Cuzzocrea and Caputi featured in January 2024 Shorts, April 2024 Shorts, September 2024 Shorts, and December 2024 Shorts. Due to her dear Cuzzo, Di Paola has tons of other fake papers on PubPeer, 76 to be exact!

In several cases, the sleuth Indigofera tanganyikensis questioned the use of a certain antibody for Nrf2 which proved to be unspecific. Yet in the hands of creative scientists like Di Paola and her mentor Cuzzo, even an unspecific antibody produces amazingly specific and clear-cut results! For example:

Livia Interdonato , Giulio Ferrario, Marika Cordaro , Ramona D’Amico , Rosalba Siracusa , Roberta Fusco , Daniela Impellizzeri , Salvatore Cuzzocrea , Giancarlo Aldini , Rosanna Di Paola Targeting Nrf2 and NF-κB Signaling Pathways in Inflammatory Pain: The Role of Polyphenols from Thinned Apples Molecules (2023) doi: 10.3390/molecules28145376 

Cuzzocrea bred oodles of PhD students, it seems the entire medical faculty of the University of Messina consists today of his former mentees. I wonder if they all submitted the same doctorate dissertation, only changing the name?

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Badass girl Scientist

A retraction for Iranian papermillers, so far, so boring, but wait: one of them works for George Church and the biotech GC Therapeutics which he co-founded! Yes, GC stands for George Church, and is based on his “TFome” project of a transcription factor library. In 2024, this company raised $75 million:

““George donated his skin cells, which were reprogrammed into the stem cells that were used. So, he truly has skin in the game,” GCTx co-founder and Chief Scientific Officer Alex Ng, Ph.D., told Fierce Biotech. “Along with this deep contribution, we’re really proud to have his initials on our door.”

Now meet Mozhdeh Sojoodi, originally from Iran, who self-describes as “Badass girl Scientist” on social media and is listed as “Senior Scientist II” at GC Therapeutics. She coauthored as corresponding author this nanotheranostics study during her time as researcher at Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School:

Vahid Karpisheh , Javad Fakkari Afjadi , Mohsen Nabi Afjadi , Melika Sadat Haeri , Tayebeh Sadat Abdpoor Sough , Sim Heydarzadeh Asl , Mehdi Edalati , Fatemeh Atyabi , Ali Masjedi , Farnaz Hajizadeh , Sepideh Izadi , Farnaz Sadat Mirzazadeh Tekie , Maliheh Hajiramezanali , Mozhdeh Sojoodi, Farhad Jadidi-Niaragh Inhibition of HIF-1α/EP4 axis by hyaluronate-trimethyl chitosan-SPION nanoparticles markedly suppresses the growth and development of cancer cells International Journal of Biological Macromolecules (2021) doi: 10.1016/j.ijbiomac.2020.11.056 

All above mentioned papers (save for the Slovak study by Mr & Mrs Mikus) were published by the same Iranian papermill gang around Farhad Jadidi-Niaragh, who has over 50 fake papers on PubPeer. Sometimes Sojoodi is coauthor, sometimes she isn’t. The other authors on these cheap papermill fabrications are also Iranian, with a few occasional russians. As you saw, some of these papers were already retracted. The recently issued retraction for Karpishehet al 2021 went:

“This article has been retracted at the request of the Editors.

Concern was raised regarding multiple instances of image duplication in figure 4 (panel C ROW: CT-26,GAPDH; COLUMN: NP+siRNA HIF-1α, NEP-E7046 and ROW: 4T1, GAPDH; COLUMN: NEP-E7046, NP), figure 5 (Panel a- B16, 24h; Untreated and NP) and figure 8 (tumor images of panel e (ROW 4; COLUMN5) and f (ROW 4; COLUMN 4). The images seem to show the same samples but are labelled as different. The corresponding author addressed these concerns but was unable to provide a satisfactory explanation. Consequently, the Editors have decided to retract the article.”

Sojoodi has 10 papers on PubPeer, mostly with Jadidi-Niaragh, again be reminded that several are already retracted. Like this:

Shahin Hallaj , Sima Heydarzadeh Asl , Fatemeh Alian , Sajjad Farshid , Farzaneh Sadat Eshaghi , Afshin Namdar , Fatemeh Atyabi , Ali Masjedi , Tooba Hallaj , Anahita Ghorbani , Ghasem Ghalamfarsa , Mozhdeh Sojoodi, Farhad Jadidi-Niaragh Inhibition of CD73 using folate targeted nanoparticles carrying anti-CD73 siRNA potentiates anticancer efficacy of Dinaciclib Life Sciences (2020) doi: 10.1016/j.lfs.2020.118150 

The retraction from 6 June 2024 referenced the PubPeer source and added:

“The corresponding author informed the journal that this situation was an unintentional mistake caused by the high number of images taken from the fields, the similarity of the images, and the similarity of their names.

The Editors assessed the matter and decided to retract the article.”

Other Sojoodi and Jadidi-Niaragh papers need to be urgently retracted, like this:

Hendrik Setia Budi , Sepideh Izadi , Anton Timoshin , Sima Heydarzadeh Asl , Behzad Beyzai , Amir Ghaderpour , Fatemeh Alian , Farzaneh Sadat Eshaghi , Seyedeh Mahboubeh Mousavi , Behnam Rafiee , Afshin Nikkhoo , Armin Ahmadi , Hadi Hassannia , Majid Ahmadi , Mozhdeh Sojoodi , Farhad Jadidi-Niaragh Blockade of HIF-1α and STAT3 by hyaluronate-conjugated TAT-chitosan-SPION nanoparticles loaded with siRNA molecules prevents tumor growth Nanomedicine (2021) doi: 10.1016/j.nano.2021.102373 

Or this, again by Church’s employee Sojoodi and her Iranian friends, reusing data from another paper of hers (which is now retracted):

Khalid Odamizil Alzamely , Farnaz Hajizadeh , Morteza Heydari , Mohamad Javad Ghaderi Sede , Sima Hydarzadeh Asl , Makwan Peydaveisi , Ali Masjedi , Sepideh Izadi , Afshin Nikkhoo , Fatemeh Atyabi , Afshin Namdar , Behzad Baradaran , Mozhdeh Sojoodi, Farhad Jadidi-Niaragh Combined inhibition of CD73 and ZEB1 by Arg-Gly-Asp (RGD)-targeted nanoparticles inhibits tumor growth Colloids and surfaces. B, (2021) doi: 10.1016/j.colsurfb.2020.111421 

This is nice also:

Maryam Esmaily , Ali Masjedi , Shahin Hallaj , Mohsen Nabi Afjadi , Farinaz Malakotikhah , Sepideh Ghani , Armin Ahmadi , Mozhdeh Sojoodi , Hadi Hassannia , Fatemeh Atyabi , Afshin Namdar , Gholamreza Azizi , Ghasem Ghalamfarsa , Farhad Jadidi-Niaragh Blockade of CTLA-4 increases anti-tumor response inducing potential of dendritic cell vaccine Journal of controlled release (2020) doi: 10.1016/j.jconrel.2020.06.017 

The funny thing, even Sojoodi’s papers done entirely at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston, even those contain manipulated data:

Shadi Salloum , Andre J. Jeyarajan , Annie J. Kruger , Jacinta A. Holmes , Tuo Shao , Mozhdeh Sojoodi , Myung-Ho Kim , Zhu Zhuo , Stuti G. Shroff , Andrew Kassa , Kathleen E. Corey , Sanjoy K. Khan , Wenyu Lin , Nadia Alatrakchi , Esperance A.K. Schaefer , Raymond T. Chung Fatty Acids Activate the Transcriptional Coactivator YAP1 to Promote Liver Fibrosis via p38 Mitogen-Activated Protein Kinase Cellular and Molecular Gastroenterology and Hepatology (2021) doi: 10.1016/j.jcmgh.2021.06.003 

I see only the brightest future for Church’s GC Therapeutics, with such qualified scientistist on board!

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Science Breakthroughs

Suitable for possible application

Papermills invented a new kind of perovskite optoelectric materials. A highly radioactive one, made with the artificial element francium, which decays in minutes. The invention passed peer review at Elsevier, Springer and other allegedly serious publishers.

After Smut Clyde published the above article about papermill citation market, a reader named “MJW” commented:

“Thanks for this study! I saw a flood of b.s. DFT perovskite prediction papers (b.s. stands not only for band structure here ) and even managed to publish a comment in J Phys. Chem. Solids […] to a particularly bizzare one. After reading your article now all makes sense to me.”

It was this comment, by Michal J. Winiarski, assistant professor at Gdansk University of Technology in Poland, published in the Elsevier journal Journal of Physics and Chemistry of Solids on 3 June 2025. Winiarski commented on this paper, where “francium halide perovskites” were suggested as “viable options for use in sophisticated optoelectronic and smart window applications“:

Shoukat Hussain , Abhinav Kumar , Majed Al-Sabah , Jayanti Makasana , Rekha M. M , Kattela Chennakesavulu , Premananda Pradhan , Tushar Aggarwal , Ankit D. Oza , Soumaya Gouadria , Jalil Ur Rehman Study of perovskite JDCl3 (J = Fr, and D = Ca, Sr, Ge, Sn) materials for smart window and optoelectronic applications: A computational predictions Journal of Physics and Chemistry of Solids (2025) doi: 10.1016/j.jpcs.2025.112771 

In his peer-reviewed comment, Winiarski raised the same points. And he also addressed earlier francium papers which featured in the references of Hussain et al 2025:

• Asif Hosen , Md. Adil Hossain , Mohammed S. Abu-Jafar , Redi Kristian Pingak , Ahmad A. Mousa Unraveling lead-free Fr-based perovskites FrQCl3 (Q = Ca, Sr) and their pressure induced physical properties: DFT analysis for advancing optoelectronic performance Journal of Physics and Chemistry of Solids (2024) doi: 10.1016/j.jpcs.2024.112211 
• Adil Hossain , Muneef Hasan , Maruf Al Yeamin , Sheikh Joifullah , Mahfuzul Haque , Redi Kristian Pingak , Asif Hosen Tuning band gap and enhancing optoelectronic performance of Fr-based perovskite FrBF3 (B = Ge, Sn) under pressure Optical and Quantum Electronics (2025) doi: 10.1007/s11082-025-08089-0 
• Imtiaz Ahamed Apon, M. D. Ratul Hasan , Istiak Ahmed Ovi , Fatema-Tuz-Zahra Pressure-driven semiconducting to metallic transition in francium tin trihalides perovskite with improved optoelectronic performance: A DFT study AIP Advances (2024) doi: 10.1063/5.0207336 
• Ovijit Das , Mohammad Nazmul Hasan , Pallab Kumar Karmaker , Md Saiduzzaman , Minhajul Islam Investigation of high-pressure effect on the physical properties of FrNBr3 (N Ca, Sr) non-toxic halide perovskites Materials Science in Semiconductor Processing (2024) doi: 10.1016/j.mssp.2024.108252

On the last thread, Sylvain Bernès ridiculed the concept of francium-doped materials:

“According to en.wikipedia, “only about 1 ounce (28 g) of francium is present naturally in the earth’s crust“. For synthetic sources, “the largest amount produced in the laboratory was a cluster of more than 300,000 atoms“. This is less than one attomole.

There is nothing wrong with publishing theoretical studies involving elements whose isotopes are all radioactive (Fr, Tc, Pm,…). Such studies could be useful for theoretical methods. However, legitimizing these papers with some concrete application is ludicrous, and casts doubts on the peer-review process.

Next step: new catalysts based on Darmstadtium (Ds, atomic number 110), on the grounds that Pd and Pt are too expensive!”

The Pakistani lead author of the Winiarski-commented paper, Jalil Ur Rehman, has more stuff on PubPeer, including yet another study which declared francium as “suitable for possible application in the production of thermoelectric devices“. It was published in a Springer journal:

Shoukat Hussain , Abhinav Kumar , Soumaya Gouadria , Jayanti Makasana , Suhas Ballal , Karthikeyan Jayabalan , Premananda Pradhan , Bhavik Jain , Tushar Aggarwal , Jalil Ur Rehman Study of physical properties of novel perovskite FrJCl3 (J = Be, Mg) materials: DFT predictions for photovoltaic applications Journal of Materials Science (2025) doi: 10.1007/s10854-025-14720-3 

Rehman’s other, less radioactive perovskite studies Ahmad et al 2022 , Ahmad et al 2024, Ghaffar et al 2024 or Akhtar et al 2024 “are distinguished by a constellation of familiar, frequently co-cited, seldom-relevant ‘citation magnets‘”, according to Smut Clyde. The experimental studies contain fake data:

Zaheer-ul- Hassan , Tariq Munir , Naseeb Ahmad , M. Ibad Ullah Hashmi , Yasir Ali , Muhammad Bilal Tahir, Abid Hussain , Jalil Ur Rehman , Abdul Ghafar Wattoo , Hussein Alrobei Enhancement in Physical Properties of Silver-Doped Fe–Ni Invar Nano-alloy Using Chemical Reduction Method Journal of Superconductivity and Novel Magnetism (2021) doi: 10.1007/s10948-021-06026-2 

Basically, this means Rehman buys his papers from a papermills, and these sometimes include blocks of citations to other paying customers, and sometimes they are particularly stupid. But then again, this francium comedy keeps passing peer review.

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Experience better aging

Emory University scholars found out that magic mushrooms will extend your lifespan by 30%!

Here a press release from Emory Health Sciences, accompanied by photographs of youthful looking authors of the study, proving that indeed getting high on ‘shrooms makes you young:

“In a new study published in Nature Partner Journals’ Aging, researchers show that psilocin, a metabolite formed when psilocybin (the psychoactive compound in psychedelic mushrooms) is consumed, increased the lifespan of human skin and lung cells by over 50%.

At the same time, researchers carried out the first long-term in vivo study to assess how psilocybin affects the entire body in aged mice. The study used 19-month-old mice, which correspond to humans aged 60 to 65. Mice that received an initial low dose of 5 mg psilocybin followed by a monthly 15 mg dose over a 10-month period showed a 30% higher survival rate compared to untreated controls. These treated mice also exhibited healthier physical traits, including better fur condition, reduced white hair, and evidence of hair regrowth.”

This is the study, led by Emory’s former associate professor Louise Hecker (now at Baylor College of Medicine) and assistant professor Ali John Zarrabi, the latter is not to be confused with a similarly named Turkish papermiller, but is a “palliative care specialist providing physical, emotional, and spiritual care for patients living with serious illness“. Magic mushrooms as a mean to avoid death are a perfect medical advice:

Kosuke Kato, Jennifer M. Kleinhenz, Yoon-Joo Shin, Cristian Coarfa, Ali J. Zarrabi and Louise Hecker “Psilocybin treatment extends cellular lifespan and improves survival of aged mice” npj Aging. (2025) DOI: 10.1038/s41514-025-00244-x

Hecker reminded that “even when the intervention is initiated late in life in mice, it still leads to improved survival“, and Zarrabi already seems to have plans for his terminally ill patients:

““As a palliative care physician-scientist, one of my biggest concerns is prolonging life at the cost of dignity and function. But these mice weren’t just surviving longer—they experienced better aging,” adds Zarrabi, co-investigator of the study.”

There is an additional level of irony. Just a few months before in Perna et al 2025, Zarrabi previously warned of the adverse effects of psilocybin which include “severe sleep impairment, anhedonia, and suicidal ideation requiring hospitalization“.

So how did they get out such amazing results from something which can never work? A clue: not present with his photo in the press release is another coauthor and Hecker’s new colleague at Baylor College of Medicine, the associate professor Cristian Coarfa. He has a PubPeer record with known cheaters, like the brothers Costantine and Nicholas Mitsiades (see He et al 2014 or Geng et al 2013), Kapil N. Bhalla (see Sun et al 2015).

And here is Coarfa with the titans of fake science, Anil Sood, Gabriel Lopez-Berestein and Elsa Flores:

• Preethi H Gunaratne , Yinghong Pan , Abhi K Rao , Chunru Lin , Anadulce Hernandez-Herrera , Ke Liang , Antonina S Rait , Avinashnarayan Venkatanarayan , Ashley L Benham , Farwah Rubab , Sang Soo Kim , Kimal Rajapakshe , Clara K Chan , Lingegowda S Mangala , Gabriel Lopez-Berestein , Anil K Sood , Amy C Rowat , Cristian Coarfa , Kathleen F Pirollo , Elsa R Flores , Esther H Chang Activating p53 family member TAp63: A novel therapeutic strategy for targeting p53-altered tumors Cancer (2019) doi: 10.1002/cncr.32053 
• Yinghong Pan , Gordon Robertson , Lykke Pedersen , Emilia Lim , Anadulce Hernandez-Herrera , Amy C. Rowat , Sagar L. Patil , Clara K. Chan , Yunfei Wen , Xinna Zhang , Upal Basu-Roy , Alka Mansukhani , Andy Chu , Payal Sipahimalani , Reanne Bowlby , Denise Brooks , Nina Thiessen , Cristian Coarfa , Yussanne Ma , Richard A. Moore , Jacquie E. Schein, Andrew J. Mungall, Jinsong Liu, Chad V. Pecot, Anil K. Sood, Steven J.M. Jones, Marco A. Marra, Preethi H. Gunaratne miR-509-3p is clinically significant and strongly attenuates cellular migration and multi-cellular spheroids in ovarian cancer Oncotarget (2016) doi: 10.18632/oncotarget.8412 

Coarfa has more fake trash with the University of Houston professor Preethi Gunaratne (PubPeer record), including Chakravarti et al 2014 also featuring Flores, but Coarfa’s worst stuff was published with the Academic Director of Metabolomics Core at Baylor College of Medicine, Nagireddy Putluri (PubPeer record), who featured in July 2024 Shorts. Two very fake papers by Putluri and Coarfa were discussed there, specifically Jin et al 2017 and Vantaku et al 2020.

There is also this by Coarfa and Putluri, plus Putluri’s German friend Friedrich-Carl Von Rundstedt, chair of urology at University Witten-Herdecke, and author of “The prostate and bladder guide“:

Danthasinghe Waduge Badrajee Piyarathna , Thekkelnaycke M. Rajendiran , Vasanta Putluri , Venkatrao Vantaku , Tanu Soni , Friedrich-Carl Von Rundstedt, Sri Ramya Donepudi , Feng Jin , Suman Maity , Chandrashekar R. Ambati , Jianrong Dong , Daniel Gödde , Stephan Roth , Stephan Störkel , Stephan Degener , George Michailidis , Seth P. Lerner, Subramaniam Pennathur, Yair Lotan, Cristian Coarfa, Arun Sreekumar, Nagireddy Putluri Distinct Lipidomic Landscapes Associated with Clinical Stages of Urothelial Cancer of the Bladder European Urology Focus (2018) doi: 10.1016/j.euf.2017.04.005 

This paper was corrected in September 2019 right after Bik’s PubPeer post: “An error occurred during the preparation of Fig. 4H for final publication, which resulted in the data from the same patients being represented twice.“

As if cloning gel bands was perfectly normal. Here another successfully corrected fabrication, featuring Coarfa, Putluri, and his wife and lab director Vasanta Putluri:

Venkatrao Vantaku , Sri Ramya Donepudi , Chandrashekar R. Ambati , Feng Jin , Vasanta Putluri , Khoa Nguyen , Kimal Rajapakshe , Cristian Coarfa , Venkata Lokesh Battula , Yair Lotan , Nagireddy Putluri Expression of ganglioside GD2, reprogram the lipid metabolism and EMT phenotype in bladder cancer Oncotarget (2017) doi: 10.18632/oncotarget.21038 

Seeing with whom Coarfa works and what kind of science he produces, it is no wonder he made mice live longer on magic mushrooms. But Hecker and Zarrabi are high on their success, pun intended.

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