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The Galdiero Clan

"Scientific works must be carefully reviewed, assessed, and, if necessary, corrected at the time of submission and publication. Attempting to re-evaluate articles many years later represents an unfair practice toward the authors " - a member of the Galdiero Clan.

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by Leonid Schneider
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Meet the Galdiero Clan of Naples, academic pharmacologists going into the fourth generation of professors at two Neapolitan universities. They like to mercilessly sue their critics, so I really look forward to their reaction to this article.

Nepotism in academia is standard modus operandi in Italy. Academic positions are distributed to family members, that’s why one keeps finding the same last name on the faculty lists again and again. There was even a study about it (Allesina 2011).

Now, let me introduce you to the central characters of this family saga:

  • Massimiliano Galdiero: Born in 1968, studied in UK, PhD in 1998 from University of Cambridge, since 1994 at University of Campania “Luigi Vanvitelli” (also known as the Second University of Naples), since 2004 full professor of microbiology (CV)
  • Marilena Galdiero: born around 1966, PhD in 1995 from Sapienza University of Rome, since 1999 at Second University of Naples, associate professor of microbiology since 2006 (CV)
  • Stefania Galdiero: born in 1970, PhD in 1998 from University of Naples “Federico II”, until 1994 at the same university, full professor of inorganic chemistry since 2021 (CV)
  • Emilia Galdiero: born around 1966, studied medicine in University of Naples “Federico II”, returned in 1995 and eventually became professor (CV)

The family patriarch was Francesco Galdiero, former dean of medicine at the University of Campania “Luigi Vanvitelli”. His obituary specifically mentions his children Massimiliano and Marilena, another named offspring is Roberta Galdiero, who works at Istituto Nazionale Tumori IRCCS “Fondazione G. Pascale” in Naples, where incidentally a Francesca Galdiero (born in early 1980ies) also works. The latter published with the biggest fraudster of University of Naples – Alfredo Fusco.

Massimiliano, together with his father Francesco, founded the cosmetics company Bufarma, having inherited from grandfather Stefano the “knowledge of what buffalo milk was good for“. If you wonder why Massimiliano looks so sexy and beautiful: the secret is his buffalo milk skin care, which you can buy for as little as €40 a tin.

(Bufarma)
Stefania Galdiero with Antonio Giordano (LinkedIn)

The Galdiero Clan is big and their first names are confusing, since they are being recycled across generations. Another Francesco Galdiero founded in 1935 the Galdiero Laboratory, which is now run by another Stefano Galdiero, who is of course also a professor at University of Naples “Federico II”, and obviously not Massimiliano’s buffalo-milking grandfather, but another family member. Massimiliano in turn also has his own diagnostics company, called Matidia Pharma.

There are also records of other family members: Maria Rosaria Galdiero (CV, born in early 1980ies), who studied, did PhD and worked ever since at University of Naples “Federico II”, and of other younger Galdieros (Giacomo, Vincenzo) who studied at the same University of Naples.

By the way, the litigious Massimiliano and Stefania are friends with another highly litigious Neapolitan cheater, the Temple University professor Antonio Giordano, who is apparently suing me in Milan over this article:

In Italy, wives do not take up their husband’s last name, this is why we can safely presume the infiltration of the Galdiero Clan into the Neapolitan academia to be much, much deeper. The Clan members have almost 60 very problematic papers on PubPeer, the accusations are plagiarism and data forgery.

The problem started with the Patriarch himself, Don Franco. His son Massimiliano joined early:

Hemicordulia tenera: “Very similar SDS-PAGE gels were used in different papers. […] Papers published 10 years after use the same gel but do not reference the earlier papers. Even worse, they change the amounts of protein that was apparently used from 20 ug (gel published 1984) to 10 ug later papers”

Also Emilia was roped in early by Don Franco:

Pertusaria rupicola : “The SDS-PAGE gels of LPS isolated from Gram-negative bacteria are surprisingly similar. However, the LPS assignments in the gels do not correlate, despite the band patterns appearing quite alike.”

In April 2021, Elisabeth Bik made a series of PubPeer posts with this comment:

“This paper is part of a set of at least 14 papers with shared authors (always including one with the last name Galdiero), spanning 1995-2008, that all appear to show the same gels. The porin gels appear to all represent the same sample (Salmonella typhimurium porins), but the LPS gels represent Salmonella, Pasteurella multocida, or Pasteurella haemolytica). Sometimes fewer or more lanes are visible, and in each paper the data are represented as novel.”

Bik was referring to the posts by the PubPeer user Edentulina martensi and her own investigation. These are the papers, it turned out to be 18 of them:

  1. MARIATERESA VITIELLO, PASQUALE SCARFOGLIERO , MARILENA GALDIERO, FERNANDA GORGA , LINDA SOMMESE Prolactin and insulin regulate the release of IL-1-alpha and IFN-gamma from murine splenocytes activated with porins or LPS of Salmonella typhimurium Immunology &Biology (1995) doi: 10.1038/icb.1995.70
  2. M Galdiero, G Cipollaro De L’ero , G Donnarumma , A Marcatili , F Galdiero Interleukin-1 and interleukin-6 gene expression in human monocytes stimulated with Salmonella typhimurium porins Immunology (1995) pubmed: 8567029 
  3. L. SOMMESE, G. DONNARUMMA , G. CIPOLLARO DE L’ERO , A. MARCATILI , M. VITIELLO, M. GALDIERO Growth hormone modulates IL-alpha and IFN-gamma release by murine splenocytes activated by LPS or porins of Salmonella typhimurium Journal of Medical Microbiology (1996) doi: 10.1099/00222615-45-1-40 
  4. M Galdiero, L De Martino , A Marcatili , I Nuzzo , M Vitiello , G Cipollaro De L’Ero Th1 and Th2 cell involvement in immune response to Salmonella typhimurium porins Immunology (1998) doi: 10.1046/j.1365-2567.1998.00492.x
  5. Giuseppe Iovane , Pietro Pagnini , Massimiliano Galdiero, Gabriella Cipollaro De L’Ero , Mariateresa Vitiello , Marina D’Isanto , Antonella Marcatili Role of Pasteurella multocida porin on cytokine expression and release by murine splenocytes Veterinary Immunology and Immunopathology (1998) doi: 10.1016/s0165-2427(98)00183-4 
  6. Giuseppe Iovane , Massimiliano Galdiero , Mariateresa Vitiello , Luisa Martino Effect of Pasteurella haemolytica outer membrane proteins on bovine neutrophils FEMS Immunology & Medical Microbiology (1998) doi: 10.1111/j.1574-695x.1998.tb01108.x 
  7. M GALDIERO , A FOLGORE , M MOLITIERNO , R GRECO Porins and lipopolysaccharide (LPS) from Salmonella typhimurium induce leucocyte transmigration through human endothelial cells in vitro Clinical and Experimental Immunology (1999) doi: 10.1046/j.1365-2249.1999.00904.x  [May 2025 Expression of Concern]
  8. Antonella Marcatili , Marina D’Isanto , Massimiliano Galdiero, Ugo Pagnini , Eugenio Palomba , Mariateresa Vitiello, Fausto Martone Role of Pasteurella multocida, Pasteurella haemolytica and Salmonella typhimurium porins on inducible nitric oxide release by murine macrophages Research in Microbiology (2000) doi: 10.1016/s0923-2508(00)00142-x 
  9. Massimiliano Galdiero , Antonio Folgore , Immacolata Nuzzo , Emilia Galdiero Neutrophil Adhesion and Transmigration through Bovine Endothelial Cells in vitro by Protein H and LPS of Pasteurella Multocida Immunobiology (2000) doi: 10.1016/s0171-2985(00)80030-3 
  10. Marilena Galdiero, Marina D’Isanto , Mariateresa Vitiello, Emiliana Finamore , Lucia Peluso , Massimiliano Galdiero Porins from Salmonella enterica serovar Typhimurium induce TNF-α, IL-6 and IL-8 release by CD14-independent and CD11a/CD18-dependent mechanisms Microbiology (2001) doi: 10.1099/00221287-147-10-2697 
  11. Massimiliano Galdiero, Mariateresa Vitiello, Emma Sanzari , Marina D’Isanto , Annalisa Tortora , Anna Longanella , Stefania Galdiero Porins from Salmonella enterica serovar Typhimurium activate the transcription factors activating protein 1 and NF-kappaB through the Raf-1-mitogen-activated protein kinase cascade Infection and Immunity (2002) doi: 10.1128/iai.70.2.558-568.2002 [November 2024 Expression of Concern]
  12. M. Galdiero, M. D’Isanto , M. Vitiello, E. Finamore , L. Peluso , M. Galdiero Monocytic activation of protein tyrosine kinase, protein kinase A and protein kinase C induced by porins isolated from Salmonella enterica serovar Typhimurium Journal of Infection (2003) doi: 10.1053/jinf.2002.1068 
  13. M. Galdiero, M.G. Pisciotta , E. Galdiero , C. Romano Carratelli Porins and lipopolysaccharide from Salmonella typhimurium regulate the expression of CD80 and CD86 molecules on B cells and macrophages but not CD28 and CD152 on T cells Clinical Microbiology and Infection (2003) doi: 10.1046/j.1469-0691.2003.00728.x 
  14. M Vitiello, M D’Isanto , M Galdiero, K Raieta , A Tortora , P Rotondo , L Peluso , M Galdiero Interleukin-8 production by THP-1 cells stimulated by Salmonella enterica serovar Typhimurium porins is mediated by AP-1, NF-kappaB and MAPK pathways Cytokine (2004) doi: 10.1016/j.cyto.2004.03.010 
  15. Marina D’Isanto , Mariateresa Vitiello, Katia Raieta , Massimiliano Galdiero , Marilena Galdiero Prolactin modulates IL-8 production induced by porins or LPS through different signaling mechanisms Immunobiology (2004) doi: 10.1016/j.imbio.2004.06.001
  16. Marilena Galdiero, Massimiliano Galdiero, Emiliana Finamore, Fabio Rossano, Maria Gambuzza , Maria Rosaria Catania , Giuseppe Teti , Angelina Midiri, Giuseppe Mancuso Haemophilus influenzae porin induces Toll-like receptor 2-mediated cytokine production in human monocytes and mouse macrophages Infection and Immunity (2004) doi: 10.1128/iai.72.2.1204-1209.2004 
  17. Marilena Galdiero, Annalisa Tortora , Nicola Damiano , Mariateresa Vitiello, Anna Longanella , Emilia Galdiero Induction of cytokine mRNA expression in U937 cells by Salmonella typhimurium porins is regulated by different phosphorylation pathways Medical Microbiology and Immunology (2005) doi: 10.1007/s00430-003-0209-7  [August 2025 Retraction]
  18. Mariateresa Vitiello, Marina D’Isanto , Emiliana Finamore , Roberto Ciarcia , Aikaterini Kampanaraki , Marilena Galdiero Role of mitogen-activated protein kinases in the iNOS production and cytokine secretion by Salmonella enterica serovar Typhimurium porins Cytokine (2008) doi: 10.1016/j.cyto.2007.11.021 
Galdiero et al 2004 & Galdiero et al 2003

Elisabeth Bik: “Figure 2. Red boxes: The bands in C and D look remarkably similar.” (Marcatili et al 2000)

As you saw, only one of those 18 papers, Galdiero et al 2005, was retracted by Springer Nature. That’s probably because in that case, either Galdiero Clan either failed to deploy their lawyers, or the editors failed to cower under their threats, and anyway, there were many more outrageous forgeries:

Elisabeth Bik: “Figure 2A. Boxes of the same color highlight bands or areas that look remarkably similar. […] I did not mark all”
Felimare zebra, “identical pictures marked with red arrows”, Fig 2 & 3
Felimare zebra, “identical pictures marked with red arrows”, Fig 4 & 5
Felimare zebra, “identical pictures marked with red arrows”, Fig 6 & 7

The August 2025 Retraction described “concerns were raised regarding the PCR gel images presented in the figures” and mentioned: “Mariateresa Vitiello does not agree with this retraction. Marilena Galdiero, Nicola Damiano and Emilia Galdiero have not responded to any correspondence from the editor or publisher about this retraction.”

La Banda di Ando

Germans are traditionally fascinated with Italy. Like Goethe before him, Fabian Wittmers is no exception, so please enjoy our trip to the deep south of Italy where you will meet an undignified old man named Sebastiano Andò, an emeritus professor of pathology with a pathological proficiency in fake science. As anthropologists report again and again, universities…

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Mariateresa Vitiello is since 2000 professor at University of Naples “Federico II”, nearly all of her papers (since 1995 till now) are coauthored by a Galdiero, in most cases Massimiliano. It is likely she is a family member of the Galdiero Clan.

The aforementioned Galdiero et al 2002 received an Expression of Concern in November 2024 due to image duplication (“the authors could not provide original data“), there were other issues:

Elisabeth Bik “Figures 2 and 3. Boxes of the same color focus attention on lanes that appear to look similar across different panels and across the two figures.”

Thing is, Galdiero et al Immunology 1998 is just as ridiculously bad, but the publisher Wiley (which took over the journal from the British Society for Immunology) chose the easy way out of doing nothing at all:

Elisabeth Bik: “Figures 2 through 5 and 7:
Boxes of the same color focus attention on bands that look remarkably similar within the same figure or across figures. There might be more similarities.”

One of the 18 papers above later donated western blots to yet another Galdiero study, where you meet again a certain Emiliana Finamore, now Quality & Compliance Officer at Massimiliano’s company Matidia Pharma:

Mariateresa Vitiello, Emiliana Finamore , Marco Cantisani , Paolo Bevilacqua , Novella Incoronato , Annarita Falanga , Emilia Galdiero , Marilena Galdiero P2 porin and loop L7 from Haemophilus influenzae modulate expression of IL-6 and adhesion molecules in astrocytes Microbiology and Immunology (2011) doi: 10.1111/j.1348-0421.2011.00318.x 

Fig 1 vs Fig 3 of D’isanto et al 2004

And another one of those 18 papers, Galdiero et al 2000, recycled an old gel from this Galdiero study:

Massimiliano Galdiero , Eugenio Palomba , Luisa De , Mariateresa Vitiello , Pietro Pagnini Effects of the major Pasteurella multocida porin on bovine neutrophils American journal of veterinary research (1998) doi: 10.2460/ajvr.1998.59.10.1270 

Monticalia peruviana : “Unexpectedly similar gels in different publications (left – this publication / right from” Galdiero et al 2000

At some point, the Galdiero Clan heard something somewhere about nanoparticles and quantum dots, here is the result:

Annarita Falanga, Maria Teresa Vitiello , Marco Cantisani , Rossella Tarallo , Daniela Guarnieri , Eleonora Mignogna , Paolo Netti , Carlo Pedone , Massimiliano Galdiero, Stefania Galdiero A peptide derived from herpes simplex virus type 1 glycoprotein H: membrane translocation and applications to the delivery of quantum dots Nanomedicine Nanotechnology Biology and Medicine (2011) doi: 10.1016/j.nano.2011.04.009 

Fig 4
Salix myrsinites: “Similarities in Figures 4 and 6), Fig 6
Fig 4
Salix myrsinites: “Similarities in Figures 4 and 5), Fig 5
Pinguicula algida, Fig 4 and 5

No action from Elsevier. Here, at least an Expression of Concern from Oxford University Press, for the late Don Franco and his lovely daughter Emilia:

C Romano Carratelli, I Nuzzo , T Vitiello , E Galdiero, F Galdiero The effect of dietary lipid manipulation on murine splenic lymphocytes apoptosis and heat shock protein over expression FEMS Immunology & Medical Microbiology (1999) doi: 10.1111/j.1574-695x.1999.tb01260.x 

Elisabeth Bik: “Figure 1. Some bands look more similar to each other than expected, as shown with arrows of the same color.”

The Expression of Concern appeared 4 years after the PubPeer post. Maybe the lawyers didn’t reply:

“The journal attempted to contact the corresponding author but has not received a response and is investigating our concerns about Figure 1 in line with COPE guidance. The journal is publishing this Expression of Concern to notify readers of the concerns whilst the outcome of the investigation is pending and advises readers to examine the details of this study with particular care.”

Top Italian Scientists

“You may think this is just a silly prank with zero impact on whatsoever, but no. […] this initiative is useful for something. It provides solid numbers for quantifying the extent of scientific misconduct in Italy and beyond” – Aneurus Inconstans

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A similar Expression of Concern “regarding similarities within Figures 2,3,4,5,6,7,8 and 9” was published simultaneously for this paper in the same journal:

M. Galdiero, M. Vitiello , M. D’Isanto , L. Peluso , M. Galdiero Induction of tyrosine phosphorylated proteins in THP-1 cells by Salmonella typhimurium, Pasteurella haemolytica and Haemophilus influenzae porins FEMS Immunology & Medical Microbiology (2001) doi: 10.1111/j.1574-695x.2001.tb00508.x 

Elisabeth Bik: “Figures 2, 4, 6, 8.
Arrows of the same color highlight lanes that look more similar than expected. There might be some more similarities. Note that some lanes appear to be visible twice within the same blot, while other lanes appear to be visible across blots depicting different incubations.”
Elisabeth Bik: “Figure 3. Arrows of the same color highlight lanes that look more similar than expected.”
Elisabeth Bik: “Figure 5, 7, and 9. Arrows of the same color highlight lanes that look more similar than expected”

Here, Massimiliano, his Matidia Pharma‘s CEO Annalisa Chianese, plus other company employees (Carla Zannella, Anna De Filippis and Annalisa Ambrosino), used same data to push frog and grape extracts (alternatively “green 2D materials”) against the herpes and SARS-CoV2 virus. They stated in all three papers to have “no conflict of interest” whatsoever, their coauthors are the mega-cheater Lucia Altucci (Second University of Naples) and her presumed brother Carlo Altucci (First University of Naples):

Aneurus inconstans : “Figure 3B(e): HSV-1-GFP was monitored after treatment with the amphibian peptide AR-23.
The same image (yellow boxes) was published by the same group in Figure 4(c) of Zannella et al. 2023, where it supposedly shows the antiviral activity of the grape pomace polyphenolic extract “Taurisol” 0.78 ug/mL against HSV-1-GFP.”
Aneurus inconstans : “Figure 10D (below left): as figure legend states, the red arrow is supposedly showing a naked particle of SARS-CoV-2 treated with 25 uM of AR-23. The same image (cropped differently) was published by the same group in Figure 11C of Singh et al. 2020, where it is described as control (untreated) HSV-1 particle (red arrwow).”

Only Zanella et al 2022 was corrected, in May 2025, where in Figure 4, “two panels (a and c) were wrongly assembled“, of course “the scientific conclusions are unaffected“.

Herpes is something which really troubles the Galdiero Clan:

Stefania Galdiero , Mariateresa Vitiello , Marina D’Isanto , Erminia Di Niola , Lucia Peluso , Katia Raieta , Carlo Pedone , Massimiliano Galdiero, Ettore Benedetti Induction of signaling pathways by herpes simplex virus type 1 through glycoprotein H peptides Biopolymers (2004) doi: 10.1002/bip.20162 

Sholto David: “Figure 4A: An anonymous reader suggested I look at the images in this paper… There do appear to be some potentially duplicated bands,”

More fake gels by Massimiliano and Stefania:

Giovanni Smaldone, Annarita Falanga, Domenica Capasso, Daniela Guarnieri, Stefania Correale, Massimiliano Galdiero, Paolo A Netti, Massimo Zollo, Stefania Galdiero, Sonia Di Gaetano, Emilia Pedone gH625 is a viral derived peptide for effective delivery of intrinsically disordered proteins International Journal of Nanomedicine (2013) doi: 10.2147/ijn.s44186 

Elisabeth Bik: “lanes A1 and L1 in the top blot share a common source, albeit stretched differently.” Fig 3
Deraeocoris claspericapilatus: “Panels in Figures 6 and 7, while presented as results from independent experiments, appear strikingly similar.”

Marilena and Emilia now:

Emiliana Finamore, Mariateresa Vitiello , Marina D’Isanto , Emilia Galdiero, Annarita Falanga , Aikaterini Kampanaraki , Katia Raieta , Marilena Galdiero Evidence for IL-6 promoter nuclear activation in U937 cells stimulated with Salmonella enterica serovar Typhimurium porins European Cytokine Network (2009) doi: 10.1684/ecn.2009.0158 

Aneurus inconstans : “Figure 2C and Figure 4: the input loading control is identical (red boxes), but U937 cells were treated differently (yellow and blue ellipses).”

Again same two Galdieros, Elisabeth Bik wrote that she reported the issue to the journal in October 2015, “but never addressed“:

Marilena Galdiero, Mariateresa Vitiello , Marina D’Isanto , Katia Raieta , Emilia Galdiero STAT1 and STAT3 phosphorylation by porins are independent of JAKs but are dependent on MAPK pathway and plays a role in U937 cells production of interleukin-6 Cytokine (2006) doi: 10.1016/j.cyto.2006.12.003 

Elisabeth Bik: “Figure 4.
Red boxes: The STAT1 panels in Figures 4A and 4B look remarkably similar
Blue boxes: The STAT3 panels in Figures 4A and 4B look remarkably similar”
Sholto David: “Figure 5: There’s a similar issue to the problem identified above. Blue boxes more similar than expected for western blots of different samples.”

Anything can be fabricated. Just like in Romano Carratelli et al 1996, also here the error bars were clearly not real:

Elisabetta De Alteriis, Valeria Maselli, Annarita Falanga, Stefania Galdiero, Federica Maria Di Lella , Renato Gesuele , Marco Guida, Emilia Galdiero Efficiency of gold nanoparticles coated with the antimicrobial peptide indolicidin against biofilm formation and development of Candida spp. clinical isolates Infection and Drug Resistance (2018) doi: 10.2147/idr.s164262 

Streptacidiphilus durhamensis: “The error bars in these experiments appear quite similar, with some even exceeding the mean values.”
Cichorium calvum: ” Figure 3 […] highly unlikely for the standard deviations (SDs) of several experiments using Pichia pastoris cells—or any biological system—to be exactly the same across different trials.”

In January 2026, Emilia Galdiero replied on PubPeer (omission brackets hers):

“We must state our firm and unequivocal position regarding this matter.

After nearly ten years, […] the original data are no longer accessible. Expecting authors to retrieve or reconstruct material after such a long period is unrealistic and unreasonable. While there may be a typographical error in one figure, it is far more appropriate to leave the published record unchanged than to introduce speculative corrections or, worse, invent data that no longer exist.

Scientific works must be carefully reviewed, assessed, and, if necessary, corrected at the time of submission and publication. Attempting to re-evaluate articles many years later represents an unfair practice toward the authors and highlights a failure in the original editorial and peer-review process rather than an issue attributable to the work itself.

Reopening files after such a prolonged time span is unjustified and disproportionate. Even legal systems recognize statutes of limitation after similar periods; applying stricter and retroactive standards to scientific publications is neither reasonable nor acceptable.

For these reasons, we do not agree with any further action on this article and consider the matter closed.“

Galdiero’s university invested tons of money into data storage, their scientists are supposed to store their research data for at least 10 years. This paper wasn’t even eight years old at the time of Galdiero’s unhinged commenting.

Now, to some plagiarism. There are several PubPeer threads where Galdieros published the same paper twice, for example Galdiero et al 2010 or Galdiero et al 2012. This is much more serious, here Elisabeth Bik comment accepted August 2025 compares the Galdiero paper (on the right) to other, earlier publications by unrelated authors, using the plagiarism detection software Similarity Texter:

Stefania Galdiero, Annarita Falanga, Marco Cantisani, Mariateresa Vitiello, Giancarlo Morelli , Massimiliano Galdiero Peptide-lipid interactions: experiments and applications International Journal of Molecular Sciences (2013) doi: 10.3390/ijms140918758 

“Source 1: PhD thesis Paraskevi Gkeka, April 2010”, available online from University of Edinburgh;
“Source 4: Ahmad et al., Biochimie (2011)”, DOI: 10.1016/j.biochi.2010.12.012
“Source 5: Henriques et al., Biochem J (2006),” DOI: 10.1042/BJ20061100
“Source 6: Peetla et al., Mol Pharm. 2009,” doi: 10.1021/mp9000662.
“Source 2: Matsuzaki, Biochimica et Biophysica Acta (BBA) – Biomembranes (2009),” DOI: 10.1016/j.bbamem.2008.09.013
“Source 3: Splith, K., Neundorf, I. Eur Biophys J 2011”. DOI: 10.1007/s00249-011-0682-7

Bik also found some sentences copied from Khelashvilia and Harries 2013. Another PubPeer user, Sakaguchia cladiensis, found this paper to contain 10% self-plagiarism from Galdiero et al 2012 (some authors are different though).

The Name of the Foes

“I am Jorge de Burgos. I believe research should pause in searching for the progress of knowledge. Right now, we don’t need more papers, we rather need more knowledge by going through a continuous and sublime recapitulation to figure out what is true and what is fake” – Aneurus Inconstans

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That was plagiarised text, and here are plagiarised figures, from yet other unrelated sources, as flagged by the PubPeer user Felimare zebra:

Source 1, Mingeot-Leclercq et al 2008
Source 3, Staudegger et al 2000
Source 5, Wang et al 2012
Source 6, Soliman et al 2009
Source 2, Grasso et al 2002
Source 4, Brüggemann & Gerndt 2004
Source 6, Soliman et al 2009

MDPI did absolutely nothing about all this, probably because of the usual Galdiero lawyers. Instead, Annarita Falanga, associate professor at University of Naples “Federico II”, decided to enforce some rules on PubPeer:

“…the comparison reported does not present a scientifically sound basis. […] PubPeer is a very important tool, but it should not be used in this way, because all scientists lose an important instrument if it is not used correctly.“

Of course, the Galdiero Clan attracted other cheaters. Michele D’Amico is a fellow professor at University of Campania “Luigi Vanvitelli”, with his own serious PubPeer record, some of which already featured in January 2026 Shorts, which includes not just fake gels but also stolen figures (e.g., Rossi et al 2015).

Here a Galdiero paper with D’Amico:

Massimiliano Galdiero, Michele D’Amico, Fernanda Gorga , Clara Di Filippo , Marina D’Isanto , Mariateresa Vitiello , Anna Longanella , Annalisa Tortora Haemophilus influenzae porin contributes to signaling of the inflammatory cascade in rat brain Infection and Immunity (2001) doi: 10.1128/iai.69.1.221-227.2001 

Elisabeth Bik: “Figure 2A: 6h expression profiles.
Orange boxes: Most of the marker lanes appear to look more similar than expected.
Pink, yellow, cyan boxes: Some PCR bands look unexpectedly similar”
Elisabeth Bik: “Figure 3A, showing expression after 24h, appears to have similar concerns. Not marked, but left blank as an exercise for the reader. Of note, the b-actin panel looks quite similar to that in Figure 2A.”
Fig 3A by Hypopomus artedi

An Expression of Concern was issued on 29 November 2024 and informed that “the agarose gel for β-actin presented in Fig. 2A and the agarose gel for β-actin presented in Fig. 3A are likely identical“. No retraction – because the Galdieros are armed with lawyers.

Before I show you more fabrications by D’Amico and the Galdiero Clan, a word about this guy.

Neapolitan media reported on 30 January 2026, that “According to the Rome Prosecutor’s Office, Justices of the Peace and Lawyers […] were bribed by receiving champagne, accompanied by large sums of money in cases, expensive jewellery, €4000 Gucci bags, prestigious watches, etc.“.

One of these corrupt Justices of the Peace is a certain Rodosindo Martone, also under investigation are his wife Elvira Merola as well as two doctors: Giuseppe D’Amico and, ta-da: his cousin Michele D’Amico, who also happens to be the president of the Competition Commission at University of Campania. And this is what the gang did, as another local newspaper reported, referring to a “corruptive pact envisaged a mutual subjugation of public functions” (DeepL-translated):

“On the one hand, Professor Michele D’Amico, as chairman of the examination board, allegedly provided the candidate with the list of exam topics prior to the exam, promising her a favourable position in the ranking. On the other hand, Judge Martone allegedly guaranteed Dr Giuseppe D’Amico the systematic assignment of positions as a court-appointed technical consultant in the compensation cases assigned to him. In this way, the appointment of the expert became a bargaining chip to obtain an academic and professional advantage for the benefit of the magistrate’s wife. […]

According to the reconstruction, Judge Rodosindo Martone allegedly attempted to help his partner, Elvira Merola, pass the competition for specialisation in pharmacology and clinical toxicology chaired by Professor Michele D’Amico. The contact between the two was allegedly mediated by the professor’s cousin, Dr Giuseppe D’Amico, a figure already known to the judicial authorities for his frequent appointments as an expert witness. Although wiretaps confirmed circumstantial evidence that the professor did indeed provide the candidate with the exam questions in advance, the attempt to favour her failed spectacularly because, despite the help she received, the woman handed in a blank sheet of paper and failed the test.”

The Honest Errors of Giorgio Zauli

“The Ethics Commission of the University of Ferrara, in response to the request for opinion presented by Prof. Giorgio Zauli (registered on 1 June 2018, Repertory no. 60/2018 – Prot. n. 66968) does not detect any violations of the University Code of Ethics.”

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Now, here is D’Amico with Marilena, plus a Romanian friend – Anca Hermenean, Vice-Rector for Research of Western University of Arad, who has much more fake stuff on PubPeer:

Rosa Maisto, Maria Consiglia Trotta, Francesco Petrillo , Sara Izzo , Giovanna Cuomo , Roberto Alfano , Anca Hermenean , Jorge Miquel Barcia , Marilena Galdiero, Chiara Bianca Maria Platania , Claudio Bucolo, Michele D’Amico Resolvin D1 Modulates the Intracellular VEGF-Related miRNAs of Retinal Photoreceptors Challenged With High Glucose Frontiers in Pharmacology (2020) doi: 10.3389/fphar.2020.00235 

Fig 2 analysis based on Syringodium isoetifolium, my PubPeer comment was refused
Fig 7 and Fig 9 by Syringodium isoetifolium

Right after the posts appeared in March 2020, D’Amico proudly announced on PubPeer: “We already provided an errata corrige of the manuscript“. The Corrigendum from June 2020 replaced all these offending figures:

“In the original article, there was a mistake in Figure 2F as published. The wrong image was included due to the incorrect labeling of a file. […]

In addition, there was a mistake in Figure 7. Incorrect panels were included in Figures 7B, C. […]

Finally, there was a mistake in Figure 9 where the first two and last columns were mislabelled. […]

The authors apologize for these errors and state that these do not change the scientific meaning and conclusions of the article in any way. The original article has been updated.”

Italian Prosecutor orders seizure of Gabrio Bassotti reporting

“…request for preventive seizure made on 12.4.2024 by the Public Prosecutor in charge, concerning the article under indictment, still accessible on the website called forbetterscience.com, although it appears to have been removed from the blog.repubblica.it website (referred to in the indictment)…”

Leonid Schneider's avatar by Leonid Schneider

Here are again D’Amico, Marilena Galdiero and Hermenean (with her husband Andrei):

Maria Consiglia Trotta, Sami Gharbia, Hildegard Herman, Bianca Mladin, Andrei Hermenean, Cornel Balta, Coralia Cotoraci, Victor Eduard Peteu, Carlo Gesualdo, Francesco Petrillo, Marilena Galdiero, Roberto Alfano, Mihaela Gherghiceanu, Michele D’Amico, Settimio Rossi, Anca Hermenean Sex and Age-Related Differences in Neuroinflammation and Apoptosis in Balb/c Mice Retina Involve Resolvin D1 International Journal of Molecular Sciences (2021) doi: 10.3390/ijms22126280 

Archasia belfragei : “Figure 4 contains two panels that largely overlap:”
Archasia belfragei :” There seems to be overlap between Figure 4 and Figure 5:”

D’Amico announced on PubPeer in May 2025 to “take care of it in due time“.

The Galdieros didn’t reply to my emails this time. In December 2023, Stefania informed me that she was a victim of “fabrications to disparage a woman scientist.“

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