Schneider Shorts 28.11.2025 – Virtue-signalling retraction lottery

Schneider Shorts of 28 November 2025 – a Good Russian in eastern Germany, a pensioner victimised in New York, with several MDPI retractions for papermillers and Italian bigwigs, interesting corrections, failed proper channels, and finally, even more cancers ended with nanoparticles.

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Science Elites

The Good Russian

Every Ukrainian knows the expression “Good Russian”, and now a German professor, Sabine Weiss of Brandenburg Technical University of Cottbus, will learn the true meaning of this term.

It is about a member of Weiss’s lab called Aleksei Obrosov, who studied at Peter the Great Polytechnic at St.Petersburg and who came to Cottbus in 2011 to get a MSc degree. Obrosov never obtained a PhD but he claims to act as group leader since 2017. In any case, he publishes more than most German professors. Thanks to papermills, and some of it is already on PubPeer, and Weiss is on some of that.

Let’s start with the most ridiculous paper, with coauthors from Algeria, Mexico and Saudi Arabia, and with hand-drawn spectra:

Mamoun Fellah , Naouel Hezil , Dikra Bouras , Nabila Bouchareb , Alejandro Perez Larios , Aleksei Obrosov , Gamal A. El-Hiti , Sabine Weiß Investigating the effect of Zr content on electrochemical and tribological properties of newly developed near β-type Ti-alloys (Ti–25Nb-xZr) for biomedical applications Journal of Science: Advanced Materials and Devices (2024) doi: 10.1016/j.jsamd.2024.100695 

Mamoun Fellah of Khenchela University is an Algerian papermiller, his PubPeer record is steadily growing. Another collaboration of the Cottbus lab with this Algerian Fellah and some French colleagues:

Mamoun Fellah , Naouel Hezil , Mohammed Abdul Samad , Ridha Djellabi , Alex Montagne , Alberto Mejias , Stephania Kossman , Alain Iost , Agung Purnama , Aleksei Obrosov , Sabine Weiss Effect of Molybdenum Content on Structural, Mechanical, and Tribological Properties of Hot Isostatically Pressed β-Type Titanium Alloys for Orthopedic Applications Journal of Materials Engineering and Performance (2019) doi: 10.1007/s11665-019-04348-w 

More hand-drawn artwork by Obrosov, Weiss and that Algerian Fellah:

Bouras Dikra , Mamoun Fellah, Regis Barille , Sabine Weiß , Mohammed Abdul Samad , Alhanouf Alburaikan , Hamiden Abd El-Wahed Khalifa , Aleksei Obrosov Improvement of photocatalytic performance and sensitive ultraviolet photodetectors using AC-ZnO/ZC-Ag2O/AZ-CuO multilayers nanocomposite prepared by spin coating method Journal of Science: Advanced Materials and Devices (2024) doi: 10.1016/j.jsamd.2023.100642 

And even more hand-made trash, and here enters a papermiller you may recognise, Sayed M Tag El Din, mentioned for example here:

El Din writes his name in all possible ways, presumably so that he can edit and peer review his own papers:

Mamoun Fellah , Naouel Hezil , Dikra Bouras , Aleksei Obrosov, Abdul Samad Mohammed , Alex Montagne, Assmaa Abd-Elmonem , Sayed M El Din , Sabine Weiß Structural, mechanical and tribological performance of a nano structured biomaterial Co–Cr–Mo alloy synthesized via mechanical alloying Journal of Materials Research and Technology (2023) doi: 10.1016/j.jmrt.2023.06.031 

Here is Obrosov with El Din, Fellah and another known papermiller, Wasim Jamshed. Once again, Alex Montagne, junior professor at Université Polytechnique Hauts-de-France, is on board. Look at this ridiculous spectrum:

Mamoun Fellah , Naouel Hezil , Dikra Bouras , Alex Montagne , Aleksei Obrosov , Wasim Jamshed , Rabha W. Ibrahim , Amjad Iqbal , Sayed M El Din , Hamiden Abd El-Wahed Khalifa Investigating the effect of milling time on structural, mechanical and tribological properties of a nanostructured hiped alpha alumina for biomaterial applications Arabian Journal of Chemistry (2023) doi: 10.1016/j.arabjc.2023.105112 

Sometimes it is easier to seek for differences in the otherwise identical spectra:

Fouzia Hamadi, Mamoun Fellah , Naouel Hezil , Dikra Bouras , Salah Eddine Laouini , Alex Montagne , Hamiden Abd El-Wahed Khalifa , Aleksei Obrosov , Gamal A. El-Hiti , Krishna Kumar Yadav Effect of milling time on structural, physical and tribological behavior of a newly developed Ti-Nb-Zr alloy for biomedical applications Advanced Powder Technology (2024) doi: 10.1016/j.apt.2023.104306 

Another regular member of this papermilling is the Egyptian Gamal El-Hiti, who is professor at King Saud University of Saudi Arabia.

This fresh new fabrication by Obrosov and Fellah was spotted by Mu Yang, Regis Barille is professor at University of Angers in France:

Dikra Bouras , Mamoun Fellah , Dunya Zeki Mohammed , Regis Barille , Aleksei Obrosov , Gamal A. El-Hiti , Ahlem Guesmi , Lotfi Khezami Enhanced CO2 sensing properties of Fe/Al-doped SnO2 thin films: A comprehensive study of structural, optical, and electrical characteristics Journal of Alloys and Compounds (2025) doi: 10.1016/j.jallcom.2025.181387 

More by Obrosov and Fellah with Barille, hand-drawn bar diagrams:

Dikra Bouras , Mamoun Fellah , Régis Barillé , Aleksei Obrosov, Gamal A. El-Hiti Production of novel Zr–Mg nanoceramics based on kaolinite clay with strong antibacterial activity Ceramics International (2024) doi: 10.1016/j.ceramint.2024.05.091  issn: 0272-8842 

And because Obrosov is russian, it is not really surprising that he and one of russia’s biggest papermillers, Dmitry Bokov, found each other. Read about Bokov for example here:

So here they are, Obrosov, Fellah, Montagne (again with his mentor, the emeritus professor Alain Iost), and Bokov:

Mamoun Fellah , Naouel Hezil , Mohammed Zine Touhami , Mohammed AbdulSamad , Aleksei Obrosov , Dmitry O. Bokov , Ekaterina Marchenko , Alex Montagne , IOST Alain , Akram Alhussein Structural, tribological and antibacterial properties of (α + β) based ti-alloys for biomedical applications Journal of Materials Research and Technology (2020) doi: 10.1016/j.jmrt.2020.09.118 

And so on. By the way, totally not unexpected, Obrosov continued publishing with his friends in russia even after his country began its full-scale genocidal war against Ukraine, and after German researchers were ordered to cease all collaborations with russian institutions.

Published in August 2022 and “supported by the Mega grant from the Government of the Russian Federation“:

Naouel Hezil , Linda Aissani , Mamoun Fellah, Mohamed Abdul Samad , Aleksei Obrosov , Chekalkin Timofei , Ekaterina Marchenko Structural, and tribological properties of nanostructured α + β type titanium alloys for total hip Journal of Materials Research and Technology (2022) doi: 10.1016/j.jmrt.2022.06.042 

Weiss should have been warned, if only she bothered to look at least at those figures she put her name on. Also, Obrosov already had one retraction, with his russian mates:

Yuri Yasenchuk , Ekaterina Marchenko , Gulsharat Baigonakova , Sergey Gunther , Oleg Kokorev , Victor Gunther , Timofey Chekalkin , Evgeniy Topolnitskiy , Aleksei Obrosov , Ji-hoon Kang Study on tensile, bending, fatigue, and in vivo behavior of porous SHS-TiNi alloy used as a bone substitute Biomedical Materials (2021) doi: 10.1088/1748-605x/aba327 

“This article has been retracted by IOP Publishing following an allegation that images in this article were manipulated.

IOP Publishing has investigated in line with the COPE guidelines and agree that images have been altered.

The evidence gathered by IOP Publishing to date, combined with the authors response, considerably reduces confidence in the work to the extent that IOP Publishing has made the decision to retract the work.

IOP Publishing wishes to credit to internal staff for bringing the issue to our attention.

The authors agree to this retraction.”

Retraction June 2023

I wrote to Weiss, Obrosov and the leadership of their Cottbus university, repeatedly. Nobody replied.

Obrosov uses his artistic skills also in other fields, he occasionally works as extra in German TV productions. Maybe he should do this full time?

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One manipulated figure by a post doc

Meet Pravin C. Singhal, Director for Academic Affairs at the Feinstein Institutes for Medical Research and professor at Zucker School of Medicine at Hofstra University, both with Northwell Health in New York, USA. He is also former president of the New York Society of Nephrology and a recipient of the Lifetime Achievement Award from the Society of Neuroimmune Pharmacology.

In 2016 Retraction Watch reported about two corrections by Sanjeev Gupta of Albert Einstein College of Medicine in New York, who has almost 30 bad papers on PubPeer, and whose research integrity officer assured Retraction Watch that “Our committee, after extensive review of primary data concluded that Dr. Gupta was not at fault but one of his lab staff had been sloppy in the preparation of gels“, Gupta’s former mentee Kang Cheng alone was responsible, and anyway, no conclusions were ever affected in the successfully corrected Cheng et al 2010 and Cheng et al 2009.

So here is a paper by Gupta and that troublemaker Cheng, with Singhal:

Kang Cheng , Partab Rai , Andrei Plagov , Xiqian Lan , Dileep Kumar , Divya Salhan , Shabina Rehman , Ashwani Malhotra , Kuldeep Bhargava , Christopher J. Palestro , Sanjeev Gupta, Pravin C. Singhal Transplantation of bone marrow-derived MSCs improves cisplatinum-induced renal injury through paracrine mechanisms Experimental and molecular pathology (2013) doi: 10.1016/j.yexmp.2013.03.002 

Back in 2016, Gupta assured Retraction Watch that “Kang Cheng left my lab in 2009 after completing his contract and is no longer in science“. He also added: “I believe Kang Cheng performed his work with honesty“. Thus in 2020, Gupta and his friend Singhal continued publishing trash with Cheng:

Rukhsana Aslam , Ali Hussain , Kang Cheng , Vinod Kumar , Ashwani Malhotra , Sanjeev Gupta , Pravin C Singhal Transplantation of mesenchymal stem cells preserves podocyte homeostasis through modulation of parietal epithelial cell activation in adriamycin-induced mouse kidney injury model Histology and histopathology (2020) doi: 10.14670/hh-18-276 

But why do I drag poor Dr Singhal into this Gupta-Cheng fraud affair? Isn’t he merely yet another victim?

Well, this paper is without Gupta or Cheng, but again with Ashwani Malhotra, who at that time was a member of Singhal’s lab at Feinstein Institute:

Kamesh R. Ayasolla , Partab Rai , Shai Rahimipour , Mohammad Hussain , Ashwani Malhotra , Pravin C. Singhal Tubular cell phenotype in HIV-associated nephropathy: role of phospholipid lysophosphatidic acid Experimental and molecular pathology (2015) doi: 10.1016/j.yexmp.2015.06.004 

Another one by Singhal and Malhotra, who as of today is listed as member of Sighal’s active lab (correction: my previous claim that Malhotra “disappeared from academia, his whereabouts unclear”, was wrong):

Nirupama Chandel , Bipin Sharma , Mohammad Husain , Divya Salhan , Tejinder Singh , Partab Rai , Peter W. Mathieson , Moin A. Saleem , Ashwani Malhotra , Pravin C. Singhal HIV compromises integrity of the podocyte actin cytoskeleton through downregulation of the vitamin D receptor AJP Renal Physiology (2013) doi: 10.1152/ajprenal.00717.2012 

Yeah, blame Malhotra alone. 15 of Singhal’s 27 papers on PubPeer have Malhotra as coauthor:

Shabina Rehman , Nirupama Chandel , Divya Salhan , Partab Rai , Bipin Sharma , Tejinder Singh , Mohammad Husain , Ashwani Malhotra , Pravin C. Singhal Ethanol and vitamin D receptor in T cell apoptosis Journal of neuroimmune pharmacology (2013) doi: 10.1007/s11481-012-9393-9 

Also here, never blame Singhal, or his collaborator Shilpa Buch of University of Nebraska, despite her PubPeer record and corrections:

Nirupama Chandel , Bipin Sharma , Divya Salhan , Mohammad Husain , Ashwani Malhotra , Shilpa Buch , Pravin C. Singhal Vitamin D receptor activation and downregulation of renin-angiotensin system attenuate morphine-induced T cell apoptosis AJP Cell Physiology (2012) doi: 10.1152/ajpcell.00076.2012 

Yes, the cells were cloned many times. Bad, naughty Malhotra! A snake at Singhal’s honest bosom!

Abheepsa Mishra , Kamesh Ayasolla , Vinod Kumar , Xiqian Lan , Himanshu Vashistha , Rukhsana Aslam , Ali Hussain , Sheetal Chowdhary , Shadafarin Marashi Shoshtari , Nitpriya Paliwal , Waldemar Popik , Moin A. Saleem , Ashwani Malhotra , Leonard G. Meggs , Karl Skorecki , Pravin C. Singhal Modulation of apolipoprotein L1-microRNA-193a axis prevents podocyte dedifferentiation in high-glucose milieu AJP Renal Physiology (2018) doi: 10.1152/ajprenal.00541.2017

There are other problematic papers by Singhal with Karl Skorecki, professor at Technion in Israel, see Kahtua et al 2015, Jha et al 2020, or Kumar et al 2019, the latter with Singhal’s former postdoc Joanna Mikulak. Can she be blamed here maybe, because Malhotra isn’t available?

• Joanna Mikulak , Saul Teichberg , Thomas Faust , Helena Schmidtmayerova , Pravin C. Singhal HIV-1 harboring renal tubular epithelial cell interaction with T cells results in T cell trans-infection Virology (2009) doi: 10.1016/j.virol.2008.11.029
• J. Mikulak , S. Teichberg , S. Arora , D. Kumar , A. Yadav , D. Salhan , S. Pullagura , P. W. Mathieson , M. A. Saleem , P. C. Singhal DC-specific ICAM-3-grabbing nonintegrin mediates internalization of HIV-1 into human podocytes AJP Renal Physiology (2010) doi: 10.1152/ajprenal.00629.2009 

Maybe Singhal’s mentee Saul Teichberg can be blamed? He also disappeared from academia:

Anju Yadav , Sridevi Vallabu , Shitij Arora , Pranay Tandon , Divya Slahan , Saul Teichberg , Pravin C. Singhal ANG II promotes autophagy in podocytes AJP Cell Physiology (2010) doi: 10.1152/ajpcell.00424.2009 

Maybe Singhal can also blame his former mentee Dileep Kumar (who is also on Cheng/Gupta papers)? Kumar also disappeared from academia.

Dileep Kumar , Sridevi Konkimalla , Anju Yadav , Kavithalakshmi Sataranatarajan , Balakuntalam S. Kasinath , Praveen N. Chander , Pravin C. Singhal HIV-Associated Nephropathy American Journal Of Pathology (2010) doi: 10.2353/ajpath.2010.100131 

Indeed, let’s blame Kumar also. Not Singhal, despite his almost 30 papers on PubPeer.

Dileep Kumar , Liming Luan , Shresh Pathak , Divya Salhan , Sandeep Magoon , Pravin C. Singhal Ang II enhances tubular cell Ets-1 expression and associated down stream signaling is mediated through AT1 receptors Renal Failure (2010) doi: 10.3109/0886022x.2010.501936 

In March 2008, Singhal had a mysterious retraction at Journal of Leukocyte Biology, published by Oxford University Press. It merely stated:

“The article titled, “Morphine modulates monocyte-macrophage conversion phase: implications in obstructive nephropathy,” by Ikuske Hatsukari, Naoko Hitosugi, Amit Dinda, Ramkoti R. Maddula, Raymond Tan, and Pravin C. Singhal has been retracted”

That paper in Journal of Leukocyte Biology was erased from the internet. What does exist though, is a paper by same authors with almost the same title, Hatsukari et al 2006, published in the January 2006 issue of Elsevier journal Cellular Immunology where it was however accepted only in March 2006. Try to make sense of all that.

Let’s blame every, Cheng, Kumar, Malhotra, all those other junior nobodies. The only innocent figures here are senior professors, especially Pravin Singhal. I wrote to him, and Singhal swiftly replied, informing me that he retired from lab work, has no access to lab data anymore, and also does “not have any postdocs, who carried out these job“.

I asked Singhal if he cared about all that fake data he built his career and financial success on, and he explained:

“I care and I am very perturbed. But I do not know, how to solve this issue. If I have been in lab, I should have a send a letter of errata and attempted to replace these figures. In  several articles, I am only a co-author and never paid enough attention, which I should have and  now repenting for my mistakes. In articles, where I am the senior author, it is a grave mistake. You cant say it a fake science. One manipulated figure by a post doc does not takes away the whole theme of the paper.”

Very similar to how Singhal’s friend Gupta defended himself and his fake papers with Cheng.

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Scholarly Publishing

Corrections have been implemented

In October 2025 Shorts, I wrote about the problematic science of Karim Labib, former PhD student of the Nobelist Sir Paul Nurse, now group leader at MRC-PPU centre at the University of Dundee in UK. MRC-PPU was founded by Sir Philip Cohen, who then passed on the reins to his menteee Dario Alessi.

Labib is also ‘Head of Sustainability and Climate Action’ for the School of Life Sciences at University of Dundee, and chair of EMBO Lab Sustainability Award Advisory Board. Indeed, he loves recycling!

Marija Maric, Timurs Maculins, Giacomo De Piccoli, Karim Labib Cdc48 and a ubiquitin ligase drive disassembly of the CMG helicase at the end of DNA replication Science (2014) doi: 10.1126/science.1253596 

In late October 2025, the University of Dundee posted its findings (highlights mine):

“Update: The Research Integrity Group in the School of Life Sciences at the University of Dundee has examined the issues raised. Analysing original data from experiments used to generate the figures presented in the publication supports the published findings and we found that the reported concerns are the result of errors that occurred during figure construction. The findings and conclusions of the publication are not affected. The authors have shared the details of our findings with the journal, together with the original data and corrected versions of the affected figures.”

On 20 November 2025, Science issued this giant Erratum:

“In the Research Article “Cdc48 and a ubiquitin ligase drive disassembly of the CMG helicase at the end of DNA replication” (24 October 2014, 1253596), errors occurred during the assembly of three main-text figures and two supplementary figures.

The following corrections have been implemented, and full source data for the relevant figures have been published via Mendeley Data (1):

• In Fig. 2B, the image for Psf3 (pH 9 extracts of S-phase cells) was inadvertently duplicated from the data for Psf1 [immunoprecipitates (IPs) of TAP-Sld5]. The image for Psf3 (pH 9 extracts of S-phase cells) has been corrected.
• In Fig. 6B, the image for Psf1 (pH 7.9 cell extracts) corresponded to the correct data for Sld5 (pH 7.9 cell extracts). The image for Psf1 (pH 7.9 cell extracts) has been corrected.
• In Fig. 6B, the image for Psf3 (pH 7.9 cell extracts) corresponded to the correct data for Psf1 (pH 7.9 cell extracts). The image for Psf3 (pH 7.9 cell extracts) has been corrected.
• In Fig. 6B, the image for Sld5 (pH 7.9 cell extracts) corresponded to the correct data for Psf3 (pH 7.9 cell extracts). The image for Sld5 (pH 7.9 cell extracts) has been corrected.
• In Fig. 6B, the image for Psf1 (IPs of TAP-Sld5) corresponded to the correct data for Sld5 (IPs of TAP-Sld5). The image for Psf1 (IPs of TAP-Sld5) has been corrected.
• In Fig. 6B, the image for Sld5 (IPs of TAP-Sld5) was inadvertently duplicated from the data for Psf3 (IPs of TAP-Sld5). The image for Sld5 (IPs of TAP-Sld5) has been corrected.
• In Fig. 8B, lower panel (cdc48-aid) of (b), the image for Mcm3 (pH 9 cell extracts) was inadvertently duplicated from the data for Cdc45 (pH 9 cell extracts). The image for Mcm3 (pH 9 cell extracts) has been corrected.
• In fig. S4B, the image for TAP-Sld5 (IPs of TAP-Sld5) was inadvertently duplicated from the data for Psf3 (IPs of TAP-Sld5). The image for TAP-Sld5 (IPs of TAP-Sld5) has been corrected.
• In fig. S11, the image for Mcm6 (pH 9 extracts for cdc48-aid ADH-TIR1 MCM4-5FLAG TAP-SLD5) was inadvertently duplicated from the data for Mcm6 (pH 9 extracts for cdc48-aid ADH-TIR1 MCM4-5FLAG). The image for Mcm6 (pH 9 extracts for cdc48-aid ADH-TIR1 MCM4-5FLAG TAP-SLD5) has been corrected.
• In fig. S11, the image for Psf2 (IPs of TAP-Sld5 for cdc48-aid ADH-TIR1 MCM4-5FLAG TAP-SLD5) was inadvertently duplicated from the data for Psf3 (IPs of TAP-Sld5 for cdc48-aid ADH-TIR1 MCM4-5FLAG TAP-SLD5). The image for Psf2 (IPs of TAP-Sld5 for cdc48-aid ADH-TIR1 MCM4-5FLAG TAP-SLD5) has been corrected.

These corrections do not change the interpretation of the data or the conclusions of the paper.”

Let me sum up: several instances of duplicated gels, plus the entire figure 6B was false, with almost all of its blots being completely wrong ones, and that on top of the duplications in that figure. The new figure 6B is hidden behind paywall. And these are the other issues:

My guess is that the additional issues were found not by Science, but by the internal investigation at Dundee, who then requested the correction. Science Editor-in-Chief Holden Thorp, being by his own account world’s biggest hero of research integrity, was more than happy to accommodate this request.

By the way: the authors posted the original and replacement raw data from that 2014 paper on Mendeley. However, for his equally old Nature paper Simon et al 2014, Labib declared in the September 2025 correction that its raw data was unavailable “Due to the age of the article“.

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There was a misrepresentation

Here another successful correction, in Elsevier.

It is a papermill product, “authored” by one of the worst papermill frudsters, Kit Wayne Chew, and his associates. Chew is a member of Pau Loke Shaw/Christian Sonne/Jörg Rinklebe papermill vortex, read here:

So this is the corrected paper:

Tonni Agustiono Kurniawan , Fatima Batool , Ayesha Mohyuddin , Hui Hwang Goh , Mohd Hafiz Dzarfan Othman, Faissal Aziz, Abdelkader Anouzla , Hussein E. Al-Hazmi, Kit Wayne Chew Chitosan-coated coconut shell composite: A solution for treatment of Cr(III)-contaminated tannery wastewater Journal of the Taiwan Institute of Chemical Engineers (2025) doi: 10.1016/j.jtice.2024.105478 

In December 2024, the first author and papermiller Tonni Agustiono Kurniawan explained on PubPeer:

“I would like to clarify that the images included in my article are original and were created as part of this study using data collected specifically for this research. To further substantiate this, I can provide documentation that demonstrate the authenticity of these materials. If there are any similarities with previously published works, it is possible that this stems from shared methodologies, datasets, or tools commonly used in this area of research.“

Almost a year later, in November 2025, Kurniawan and Chew issued this amazing Corrigendum:

“The authors regret that in the original version of the article, there was a misrepresentation. The correction does not affect the overall conclusions of this study. The authors would like to apologise for any inconvenience caused.”

You probably think they replaced all the stolen data, but aren’t saying what exactly that “misrepresentation” was. Well, nope. They didn’t replace anything, the paper remains as it was.

Well done Elsevier.

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Not willing to waste time

From the department of Proper Channels. The pseudonymous sleuth Claire Francis contacted the Editor-in-Chief of a society-owned journal to report “Problematic data”, got shouted at.

The coauthor Angel Nebreda of IRB Barcelona in Spain, is already known as a massive cheater, with over 20 very bad papers on PubPeer. He featured in these articles:

Another coauthor, the University of Dundee professor J. Simon C. Arthur, is collaborator of Nebreda, and a former mentee of Sir Philip Cohen. Arthur’s and Nebreda’s bad science featured in this article.

Thus, the pseudonymous sleuth wrote to the editors of Journal of hepatology to report a clearly duplicated gel band:

Alessandro Furlan , Fabienne Lamballe , Venturina Stagni , Azeemudeen Hussain , Sylvie Richelme , Andrea Prodosmo , Anice Moumen , Christine Brun , Ivan Del Barco Barrantes , J. Simon C. Arthur , Anthony J. Koleske , Angel R. Nebreda , Daniela Barilà , Flavio Maina Met acts through Abl to regulate p53 transcriptional outcomes and cell survival in the developing liver Journal of hepatology (2012) doi: 10.1016/j.jhep.2012.07.044 

Journal of hepatology is owned by the European Association for the Study of the Liver (EASL), its Editor-in-Chief is Vlad Ratziu, professor at the Sorbonne Université in Paris, France. Who immediately replied to the pseudonymous sleuth with this:

“Sorry, who is this writing ?
I see you forgot to introduce yourself and explain why you send this e mail.
We are not willing to waste time on anonymous messages and will not consider it further, unless it complies with minimum rules of civility.“

After Claire Francis tried to convince Ratziu to comply with the COPE guidelines, Ratziu replied with “don’t patronize people you don’t even know.” So I had to patronize Ratziu, even sent him a Le Monde article about me, after which Ratziu announced: “Will investigate. Now that you politely -sort of – identified yourself.”. Well, while at it, he can also investigate his own research in his own journal:

Amine Majdi , Lynda Aoudjehane , Vlad Ratziu, Tawhidul Islam , Marta B. Afonso , Filomena Conti , Taïeb Mestiri , Marie Lagouge , Fabienne Foufelle , Florine Ballenghien , Tatiana Ledent , Marthe Moldes , Axelle Cadoret , Laura Fouassier , Jean-Louis Delaunay , Tounsia Aït-Slimane , Gilles Courtois , Bruno Fève , Olivier Scatton , Carina Prip-Buus , Cecília M.P. Rodrigues, Chantal Housset, Jérémie Gautheron Inhibition of receptor-interacting protein kinase 1 improves experimental non-alcoholic fatty liver disease Journal of hepatology (2020) doi: 10.1016/j.jhep.2019.11.008 

In October 2025, the last author Jérémie Gautheron explained on PubPeer that “the DMSO control images are the same, as they correspond to the same experimental batch“. Indeed, the somewhat confusing figure legend suggests the same origin fo the liver cells, but what kind of science is it to acquire one single image for each experiment? Because if they took more than one image, they wouldn’t have reused it. And that is the most benevolent explanation.

Returning to the paper Claire Francis complained about – sleuths previously flagged other works by the last author Flavio Maina, CNRS group leader at Aix-Marseille University, also in France:

Fabienne Lamballe , Sara Toscano , Filippo Conti , Maria Arechederra , Nathalie Baeza, Dominique Figarella-Branger, Françoise Helmbacher, Flavio Maina Coordination of signalling networks and tumorigenic properties by ABL in glioblastoma cells Oncotarget (2016) doi: 10.18632/oncotarget.12546 

And another one by Maina and his Marseille colleagues, where mice were tortured to produce falsified science:

Annalisa Fico, Antoine De Chevigny, Joaquim Egea, Michael R. Bösl , Harold Cremer, Flavio Maina, Rosanna Dono Modulating Glypican4 suppresses tumorigenicity of embryonic stem cells while preserving self-renewal and pluripotency Stem cells (2012) doi: 10.1002/stem.1165 

We now know from the Didier Raoult affair that Aix Marseille University has absolutely no guidelines, not for animal, not for human research.

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Retraction Watchdogging

A significant number of irrelevant citations

Strangest things happen, MDPI started to retract papers…

This contains the worst of the worst papermill fraudsters: the Finnish sexual harasser and thief Mika Sillanpää, the russian ork Dmitry Bokov, plus the duo Abduladheem Turki Jalil and Wanich Suksatan. These two retracted MDPI papers were mentioned in this article:

As Smut Clyde put it, Hell is empty and the devils are all here:

• Abduladheem Turki Jalil , Shameen Ashfaq , Dmitry Olegovich Bokov , Amer M. Alanazi , Kadda Hachem , Wanich Suksatan , Mika Sillanpää High-Sensitivity Biosensor Based on Glass Resonance PhC Cavities for Detection of Blood Component and Glucose Concentration in Human Urine Coatings (2021) doi: 10.3390/coatings11121555
• Supat Chupradit, Shameen Ashfaq , Dmitry Bokov, Wanich Suksatan, Abduladheem Turki Jalil , Amer M. Alanazi, Mika Sillanpaa Ultra-Sensitive Biosensor with Simultaneous Detection (of Cancer and Diabetes) and Analysis of Deformation Effects on Dielectric Rods in Optical Microstructure Coatings (2021) doi: 10.3390/coatings11121564 

Next to those recycled hand-drawn spectra, there were also masses of seemingly irrelevant citations (i.e., relevant only to those who paid to get cited).

This is the MDPI retraction for Turki Jalil et al 2021 from 24 November 2025:

“Following publication, a number of concerns were brought to the attention of the Editorial Office relating to image duplication, relevancy of references, and authorship in this publication [1].

Adhering to our procedure, an investigation was conducted by the Editorial Office and the Editorial Board that identified significant concerns relating to the integrity of peer-review process. Further concerns identified included an image overlap between this article [1] and an earlier publication [2] produced by a different authorship group, presenting different experimental conditions, and a significant number of irrelevant citations. Finally, despite multiple follow-up with the authors, the Editorial Board were unable to verify the accuracy of the originally listed authorship list. As a result, the Editorial Board has lost confidence in the integrity of the findings and decided to retract this publication [1], as per MDPI’s retraction policy (https://www.mdpi.com/ethics#_bookmark30, accessed on 21 August 2025).

This retraction was approved by the Editor-in-Chief of Coatings.

The authors did not agree to this retraction.”

Sillanpää used on both papers his affiliation at Aarhus University in Denmark (read article above), and the current one in South Africa. The paper Chupradit et al 2021 was retracted by MDPI last month, on 18 October 2024:

“Following publication, concerns were brought to the attention of the publisher regarding an overlap between this article [1] and an earlier publication [2] produced by a different authorship group.

Adhering to our complaints procedure, an investigation was conducted by the Editorial Office and Editorial Board Members, which confirmed a significant overlap between these two publications [1,2] without the appropriate acknowledgement or citation. […]

Author Mika Sillanpaa stated that he was not aware of the issues at the time of the paper’s submission. “

Oh Mika, what a lying [insert expletive] you are.

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Virtue-signalling retraction lottery

Another retraction, in the same MDPI journal.

The author is the Egyptian mega-fraudster Ayman Atta, read about him here:

Another author is Atta’s associate Abdelrahman Ezzat, also read June 2025 Shorts about their massive fraud. The now retracted MDPI paper shares data with many other fabrications by Atta and Ezzat, it was initially flagged by Mu Yang, but then the sleuth Thomas Kesteman took over, and found somethign rather incredible:

Mohamed H. Wahby, Ayman M. Atta, Yasser M. Moustafa, Abdelrahman O. Ezzat , Ahmed I. Hashem Curing of Functionalized Superhydrophobic Inorganic/Epoxy Nanocomposite and Application as Coatings for Steel Coatings (2021) doi: 10.3390/coatings11010083 

There were also issues with numbers, as Thomas Kesteman noted for Table 2, “Out of 44 experimental conditions, 3 occur 13 times (30%), 6 occur 12 times (27%), 4 and 5 occur each 6 times (14%), and no 0, 1, or 9 occur.” That’s because the numbers were made up.

The evidence was on Pubpeer since second half of 2024. MDPI executives were staring at it for over a year, and now, on 24 November 2025, the issued this retraction:

“Following publication, concerns were brought to the attention of the Editorial Office regarding the scientific accuracy of the data presented in the published paper [1].

In addition, following publication, concerns were brought to the attention of the Editorial Office regarding the potential duplication of images across several publications.

Adhering to our complaints procedure, an investigation was conducted by the Editorial Office and the Editorial Board, which confirmed a high level of similarity between multiple figures presented in this publication [1] and previously published papers [1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10,11,12], presenting different experimental conditions. This included the following:

• A duplication of the TEM micrographs presented in Figure 6b in [1] as Figure 4c in [2], Figure 1 in [3], Figure 7a in [4], Figure 4a in [5], Figure 2b in [6] and Figure 9c in [7].
• A high level of similarity between the TEM micrograph presented Figure 7a in [1] and Figure 5a in [8].
• A duplication of the SEM micrograph in Figure 9d in [1] as Figure 6 in [9].
• A duplication of the SEM micrograph in Figure 10 in [1] as Figure 8c in [2].
• A high level of similarity between the Salt spray images in Figure 16a and Figure 16c in [1] and Figure 10a and Figure 10b in [10]
• A high level of similarity between the SEM micrographs in Figure 11 in [1], Figure 7d in [11] and Figure 7c in [12].

Although the authors provided supporting material, the Editorial Board could not verify the validity or integrity of the presented data. As a result, the Editorial Board has lost confidence in the integrity of the findings and decided to retract this publication [1], as per MDPI’s retraction policy (https://www.mdpi.com/ethics#_bookmark30, accessed on 13 March 2025).

This retraction was approved by the Editor-in-Chief of the Coatings journal.

The authors did not provide a comment on this decision.”

Let me reassure you that other, equally fraudulent MDPI papers by Atta, those listed above for sharing images with this retracted publication, remain standing, pristine and unsullied even by a measly corrigendum. Those are Atta et al Nanomaterials 2021a, Atta et al Nanomaterials 2021b, Atta et al Molecules 2014, and in the same journal, Atta et al Coatings 2020a and Atta et al Coatings 2020b.

Which supports my pet theory that publishers have a set quota for retractions, which is based on commercial (making money with papermills) versus reputational (avoid shame and blacklisting) considerations. That’s why MDPI and other greedy publishers are not interested in retracting every ridiculously fake paper by criminals like Atta, but in occasionally virtue-signalling to you that they do care about fighting papermill fraud. For all I know, the publishers might even draw retraction candidates in a lottery, from a pool of all PubPeer-flagged publications.

And this virtue-signalling lottery works!

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The authors fully cooperated

Elsewhere in MDPI, the fallen ex-rector of University of Messina in Italy, Salvatore Cuzzocrea, suffered his TWENTY-SECOND retraction.

Cuzzo’s coauthors include his mentees Alessio Peritore, Daniela Impellizzeri and Rosanna Di Paola, whom he installed as professors in Messina.

Roberta Fusco , Enrico Gugliandolo, Rosalba Siracusa, Maria Scuto, Marika Cordaro, Ramona D’Amico, Maurizio Evangelista, Angelo Peli, Alessio Filippo Peritore, Daniela Impellizzeri, Rosalia Crupi , Salvatore Cuzzocrea, Rosanna Di Paola Formyl Peptide Receptor 1 Signaling in Acute Inflammation and Neural Differentiation Induced by Traumatic Brain Injury Biology (2020)
doi: 10.3390/biology9090238 

Also this was retracted on 24 November 2025:

“Following publication, concerns were brought to the attention of the Editorial Office regarding the integrity of the images presented in this publication [1].

Adhering to our complaints procedure, an investigation was conducted by the Editorial Office and Editorial Board that confirmed an overlap between Figures 2B and 2C, and between Figures 6A and 6B, representing different experimental groups published in [1]. Additional concerns related to inconsistencies between the reported sample size and the sample size included in the original data were identified by the Editorial Board. While the authors fully cooperated during the investigation, the concerns raised could not be adequately resolved. Consequently, the Editorial Board has lost confidence in the rigor of the manuscript and decided to retract this publication […]

The authors did not agree to this retraction.”

Good to know Cuzzo is fighting with all he has to save each of his papers, and yet keeps falling on his face.

In this regard, hot news from Italian media explaining why Cuzzo is out of friends. DagoSpia reported on 25 November 2025 (Google translated):

“Assets worth around 2.5 million euros were seized from the former rector of Messina, Salvatore Cuzzocrea, under investigation for “multiple crimes of embezzlement”. […]

Investigations by the PEF unit of the Fiamme Gialle revealed “a sophisticated mechanism” through which the former rector, “in his capacity as public official and scientific manager of numerous research projects entrusted to the ChiBioFaram department of the university”, would have “appropriated large sums of money, using, for the purposes of reimbursement of expenses, accounting documentation that was artificial, inflated or not inherent to the same scientific research projects, formally conducted in the four-year period 2019-2023”. […]

Cuzzocrea, together with the former general director of the university, Francesco Bonanno, and four entrepreneurs is on trial in Messina for irregularities in the management of contracts, supplies and services for the Peloritano university. The six were sent to trial on March 24 for auction rigging and forgery committed by a public official. Two entrepreneurs have agreed to a 10-month sentence. The University of Messina is a civil party in the proceedings.”

Cuzzocrea was basically divering public research money to his own agricultural company and his horses. The investigations involves “judicial authorities of Switzerland, the United States and Great Britain.”

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The authors did not agree

Another italian retraction in MDPI. The celebrity author here is Claudiu Supuran, Romanian-born chemistry professor at the University of Florence, who featured in this article because he occasionally works with Egyptian papermillers:

No Egyptians here, quality artwork Made in Italy, and it is clear that the responsibility lies with Supuran’s collaborators in Naples:

Annachiara Sarnella , Giuliana D’Avino , Billy Samuel Hill , Vincenzo Alterio , Jean-Yves Winum, Claudiu T. Supuran, Giuseppina De Simone , Antonella Zannetti A Novel Inhibitor of Carbonic Anhydrases Prevents Hypoxia-Induced TNBC Cell Plasticity International Journal of Molecular Sciences (2020) doi: 10.3390/ijms21218405 

The 2019 paper is also in MDPI and has largely same last and first author: Antonella Zannetti , group leader at CNR Istituto di Biostrutture e Bioimmagini in naples, and her former PhD student Billy Hill.

The retraction from 25 November 2025 went:

“Following publication, concerns were brought to the attention of the Editorial Office regarding the integrity of a number of images presented in this publication [1].

Adhering to our standard procedure, an investigation was conducted by the Editorial Office and Editorial Board that confirmed partial duplication in Figure 7 as well as partial duplication between Figure 6 presented in this article [1] and an earlier publication [2], representing different experimental conditions. Consequently, the Editorial Board has lost confidence in the reliability of the findings and has decided to retract this publication […]

The authors did not agree to this retraction.”

But here is Supuran with Zanetti and her PhD student Annachiara Sarnella again, in fact also in MDPI:

Annachiara Sarnella , Ylenia Ferrara , Sandra Albanese , Daniela Omodei , Laura Cerchia , Giuseppina De Simone , Claudiu T. Supuran, Antonella Zannetti Inhibition of Bone Marrow-Mesenchymal Stem Cell-Induced Carbonic Anhydrase IX Potentiates Chemotherapy Efficacy in Triple-Negative Breast Cancer Cells Cells (2023) doi: 10.3390/cells12020298 

But not retracted, because you know, retraction quota and lottery. This, by Supuran, Zannetti and Sarnella, is Springer Nature’s BioMedCentral:

Annachiara Sarnella , Ylenia Ferrara , Luigi Auletta , Sandra Albanese , Laura Cerchia , Vincenzo Alterio , Giuseppina De Simone , Claudiu T Supuran, Antonella Zannetti Inhibition of carbonic anhydrases IX/XII by SLC-0111 boosts cisplatin effects in hampering head and neck squamous carcinoma cell growth and invasion Journal of Experimental & Clinical Cancer Research (2022) doi: 10.1186/s13046-022-02345-x 

By the way, here is another Supuran retraction from earlier this year, again about inhibition of carbonic anhydrases, this time with collaborators from University of Florida in USA, led by professor Susan Frost:

Mam Y. Mboge , Zhijuan Chen , Alyssa Wolff , John V. Mathias , Chingkuang Tu , Kevin D. Brown, Murat Bozdag , Fabrizio Carta, Claudiu T. Supuran, Robert McKenna, Susan C. Frost Selective inhibition of carbonic anhydrase IX over carbonic anhydrase XII in breast cancer cells using benzene sulfonamides: Disconnect between activity and growth inhibition PLOS One (2018) doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0207417 

The Chen et al CBT paper was left untouched by Taylor & Francis, while Chen et al PLOS One 2018 paper received an enormous Expression of Concern on 3 July 2025, where the raw data was declared as unavailable. The Mboge et al PLOS One 2018 paper was retracted on 18 June 2025:

“After this article [1] was published, concerns were raised regarding results presented in Figs 2, 9, S4 and S7. Specifically:

• When levels are adjusted to visualize background, there appear to be regions around the bands in lanes 2–3 in the CA IX panel in Fig 2A that do not appear to match the overall background of the panel.
• The CA IX and CA II panels in Fig 2B appear similar to each other but the CA IX panel appears to have a region around the band in lane 2 that does not appear to match the overall background of the panel.
• Lanes 3 and 4 in the CA XII panel in Fig 2B appear similar to lanes 1 and 2 in the T47D CAXII panel in Fig 4A in [2].
• The following panels appear similar:
  • Fig 9A Migration NC in [1], Fig 9A Migration 10 μM U-CH₃ in [1], Fig 6A Migration EV in [3] and Fig 6B UFH-001 in [4].
  • Fig 9A Invasion 100 μM U-CH₃ in [1] and Fig 6A Invasion EV in [3].
  • Fig 9A Invasion 10 μM U-F in [1] and Fig 6A Invasion CA IX KD in [3].
  • Fig 9A Migration 100 μM U-NO₂ in [1] and Fig 6A Migration CA IX KD in [3].
  • Fig 9A Invasion NC in [1] and Fig 6C UFH-001 in [4].
• S4 Figs A and B in [1] appear similar to the western blot inserts in Figs 4A and C in [3].
• The S7 Fig A CA XII, S7 Fig B CA IX and S7 Fig B CA II panels appear similar.
• There appears to be a vertical discontinuity between lanes 4 and 5 in the GAPDH panel in S7 Fig B.

Regarding the western blot concerns in S4 Fig, the corresponding author stated that the western blots in Figs 4A and C in [2] were intentionally reused in S4 Figs A and B in [1]. For the plate image concerns in Fig 9A, the corresponding author stated that the images in Fig 9A in [1] are correct, with the exception of the 10 μM U-CH₃ panel which is incorrect and was duplicated from the control in Fig 9A in [1], and for which a replacement panel from the original experiments was provided. The corresponding author stated that the images in Fig 6A in [2] are incorrect. The author comments on the remainder of the concerns did not resolve the concerns. The corresponding author stated that with the exception of Figs 9B and C and the microarray data, the underlying data for this article [1] are no longer available.

In light of the nature and extent of the above concerns that question the integrity and reliability of the published results, and that cannot be resolved in the absence of the relevant underlying data, the PLOS One Editors retract this article.

FC and CTS did not agree with the retraction. […]

In June 2025, Frost went to lament about this unfair retraction on PubPeer, arguing that she retured 5 years ago, submitted “an apology for the errors“, accused the journal of forging her figures, and anyway, nobody really needs raw data if instead “quantitation data is likely available“.

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One or two authors in common

Not in MDPI – a bystander retraction, it seems at first glance. Chinese authors lose a paper because it shared data with another fabrication featuring Gareth Williams, a professor at UCL in London, UK.

Data from this 2017 paper by Williams and his Chinese associate, Li-Min Zhu, was reused in the now retracted 2020 study:

Jun-Zi Wu , Gareth R Williams, He-Yu Li , Dongxiu Wang , Huanling Wu , Shu-De Li, Li-Min Zhu Glucose- and temperature-sensitive nanoparticles for insulin delivery International Journal of Nanomedicine (2017) doi: 10.2147/ijn.s132984

This Dove Press paper is unaffected by any editorial action, but here is an IOP paper which got retracted:

Yunhua Zhong , Bo Song , Dan He , Zemei Xia , Peng Wang , Junzi Wu , Yan Li Galactose-based Polymer-containing Phenylboronic Acid as Carriers for Insulin Delivery Nanotechnology (2020) doi: 10.1088/1361-6528/ab9e26 

These were the other two papers sharing the pictures:

• Jun-Zi Wu , Yuqing Yang , Shude Li , Anhua Shi , Bo Song , Shiwei Niu , WenHui Chen, Zheng Yao Glucose-Sensitive Nanoparticles Based On Poly(3-Acrylamidophenylboronic Acid-Block-N-Vinylcaprolactam) For Insulin Delivery International Journal of Nanomedicine (2019) doi: 10.2147/ijn.s220936 
• Jun-zi Wu , David H. Bremner , He-yu Li , Shi-Wei Niu , Shu-De Li , Li-Min Zhu Phenylboronic acid-diol crosslinked 6-O-vinylazeloyl-d-galactose nanocarriers for insulin delivery Materials science & engineering. C (2017) doi: 10.1016/j.msec.2017.03.139 

David Bremner is a retired professor at Abertay University Dundee in Scotland, and a regular coauthor of Williams. He just had another retraction, see below.

For Zhong et al 2020, the publisher IOP even posted on PubPeer the retraction notice from 10 November 2025:

“This article has been retracted by IOP Publishing following an allegation that two sub figures in the work overlap with several previous publications authored by different individuals but share either one [1] or two [2] authors in common. Further, that alterations were made to a figure that were not disclosed.

IOP Publishing has investigated in line with the COPE guidelines, and agree that the image in figure 6 labeled as ‘group E Lungs’ is a duplicate with figure 7 of an earlier work by the author group [2] labelled as ‘group D3’. One image within in figure 6 also labelled as group ‘B Lungs’ is a duplicate with figure 5 of another earlier work by the author group [1] labeled as ‘group 40 mg⁻¹ kg d⁻¹ Lung’.

Further, the journal has detected duplication within both A and B of figure 3. The nanoparticles have been duplicated and transposed to other sections of the same subfigure. This affects the claims made about dispersion quality and therefore impacts the accuracy of the morphological analysis.

The evidence gathered by IOP Publishing to date considerably reduces confidence in the work, to the extent that IOP Publishing has made the decision to retract the work.

IOP Publishing wishes to credit the anonymous whistleblower for bringing the issue to our attention.

The authors agree to this retraction.

1. https://pubpeer.com/publications/C79FE419CFFEAB74CDBC6DCBD72EE2“

The referenced papers are (2) Wu et al Int J Nanomed 2017, and this was reference (1), again with Williams:

Jun-Zi Wu , Gareth R. Williams, He-Yu Li , Dong-Xiu Wang , Shu-De Li, Li-Min Zhu Insulin-loaded PLGA microspheres for glucose-responsive release Drug Delivery (2017) doi: 10.1080/10717544.2017.1381200 

A closer look reveals a common author on all five studies: some Jun-zi Wu, or Junzi Wu, professor at Yunnan University of Chinese Medicine. He is a regular coauthor of Williams’s and LM Zhu’s, and has more fake papers on PubPeer, including fabricated clinical trials.

And here is the promised retraction for Bremner, with LM Zhu. Their paper even shared data with an earlier study from a totally unrelated Chinese group of authors:

Jianrong Wu , Shiwei Niu , David H. Bremner , Wei Nie , Zi Fu , Dejian Li, Li‐Min Zhu A Tumor Microenvironment‐Responsive Biodegradable Mesoporous Nanosystem for Anti‐Inflammation and Cancer Theranostics Advanced Healthcare Materials (2020) doi: 10.1002/adhm.201901307 

In July 2025, the first author Jianrong Wu announced on PubPeer to have “discovered that an oversight during data compilation” and promised to “submit a corrigendum to the journal as soon as possible.” Instead, a retraction appeared on 23 November 2025:

“A third party reported that Figure 3G contained overlapping images between the Control and HMONs samples and that the HBIP (L+) flow cytometry plot in Figure 4F had been duplicated from a previous article by different authors [Zeng et al. 2019 (https://doi.org/10.1080/10717544.2019.1631409)]. These concerns were confirmed by the publisher. Additionally, further investigation by the publisher found an image overlap between the PTT and HBIP (L+) images in Supplemental Figure S17.

The authors responded to an inquiry by the publisher and provided original data. A review of the data provided by the authors found additional instances of image overlap between different samples, similar to those identified in Figure 3G. These errors confound the reliability of the original data provided by the authors.

The retraction has been agreed to because the evidence of image manipulation fundamentally compromises the editors’ confidence in the conclusions presented in the article. The authors did not respond to our notice regarding the retraction.”

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Science Breakthroughs

We can stop tumors in their tracks

Trump keeps “ending wars” and still he gets no Nobel Prize, and another American genius, Chad Mirkin, keeps curing cancer with nanoparticles, and still no Nobel Prize either. Like Trump, Mirkin is instead beset by envious haters, in Mirkin’s case it’s his French colleague Raphael Levy, whom the Northwestern University professor described as “scientific terrorist”, and announced to sue (but never did, despite the RW “Exclusive“). Read about Mikrin’s past successes in curing cancer here:

Just now, Mirkin cured first leukaemia, and then glioblastoma. Here a press release by his university from 29 October 2025:

“The scientists built a new form of the drug using spherical nucleic acids (SNAs), a type of nanostructure that embeds the drug directly into DNA strands coating tiny spheres. This re-engineering turned a weak, poorly dissolving chemotherapy drug into a highly targeted cancer-fighting agent that spares healthy tissue. […]

The new therapy was tested in animals with acute myeloid leukemia (AML), a fast-growing and hard-to-treat blood cancer. Compared with the standard chemotherapy version, the SNA-based drug entered leukemia cells 12.5 times more efficiently, destroyed them up to 20,000 times more effectively, and slowed cancer progression 59-fold — all without detectable side effects. […]

“In animal models, we demonstrated that we can stop tumors in their tracks,” said Northwestern’s Chad A. Mirkin, who led the research. “If this translates to human patients, it’s a really exciting advance. It would mean more effective chemotherapy, better response rates, and fewer side effects.”

The paper was published in a highly reputable medical journal specialising in clinical oncology, ACS Nano. Presumably to prevent any actual experts in oncology or biomedicine from laughing it out, thus rest assured the peer review was done by fellow polymer chemists loyal to Mirkin.

Taokun Luo , Young Jun Kim , Zhenyu Han , Jeongmin Hwang , Sneha Kumari , Vinzenz Mayer , Alex Cushing, Roger A. Romero , Chad A. Mirkin Chemotherapeutic Spherical Nucleic Acids ACS Nano (2025) doi: 10.1021/acsnano.5c16609 

The biotech Flashpoint Therapeutics, of which our hero is co-founder and whose “proprietary discovery platform is founded on nanotechnology research developed over the past decade at the laboratory of Dr. Chad Mirkin“, immediately issued press releases. Thus, leukaemia is now basically history.

Next, Mirkin cured glioblastoma. Here the university press release from 22 November 2025:

“Researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, working with scientists at Northwestern University, have created a noninvasive strategy to treat one of the most aggressive and deadly forms of brain cancer. […]

Together, the teams designed a specialized version of spherical nucleic acids featuring gold nanoparticle cores and short DNA fragments that activate the STING pathway in targeted immune cells. To move these compounds into the brain, the researchers used the nasal passages as the entry point. […]

When the nanotherapy was paired with medicines that help activate T lymphocytes, another key type of immune cell, the two-dose treatment eliminated tumors in mice and produced long-lasting immunity that prevented the cancer from returning.”

This is the other paper, published in PNAS:

Akanksha S. Mahajan , Corey Dussold , Seunghyun Kim , Rachel Jarvis , Lisa A. Hurley , Serena Tommasini-Ghelfi , Jungsoo Park , Connor M. Forsyth , Bin Zhang , Jason Miska , Amy B. Heimberger , Chad A. Mirkin , Alexander H. Stegh cGAS-agonistic spherical nucleic acids reprogram the glioblastoma immune microenvironment and promote antitumor immunity Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (2025) doi: 10.1073/pnas.2409557122 

“Alexander Stegh is a shareholder of Exicure Inc., which develops SNA therapeutic platforms. Mirkin is a shareholder in Flashpoint, which develops SNA-based therapeutics. Stegh and Mirkin are co-inventors on patent US20150031745A1, which describes SNA nanoconjugates to cross the blood-brain barrier.”

Actually, Mirkin is not a mere shareholder, he is co-founder not only of Flashpoint, but also of Exicure. Anyway, glioblastoma is now history, too.

Where’s that Nobel Prize for Mirkin???

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