By Leonid Schneider, on research integrity, biomedical ethics and academic publishing
Schneider Shorts 27.03.2026 – degenerative medicine special with London crooks and Californian lunatics, with retractions for mouse torture, concerns for one man’s cancer business, and a Texan Nobelist and his bullying wife.
Schneider Shorts 18.04.2025 – An oasis of fraud at UCL, Swiss professor wins a coveted medal, Britain’s research integrity chair defended by Wiley, retractions for British scholars and for Nigerian one-man papermill, and the various ways of how silly science can get.
Several years ago, UCL investigated the Macchiarini affair and found their surgeon Martin Birchall was not only innocent, but also entitled to more money and more patients to experiment upon.
Now, Patricia Murray was awarded for exposing this UCL malfeasance, and Sholto David scrutinised UCL papers for data manipulation.
UCL has completed the investigation into the affair around their past honorary professor Paolo Macchiarini and the trachea transplants. The report avoids implicating Macchiarini’s partner Martin Birchall. The only guilty party is the nuclear physicist Alexander Seifalian.
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