BAR HARBOR, Maine — Despite allegations of fabricated research at the University of Connecticut, officials with The Jackson Laboratory say they remain confident in the university and how it is handling the matter.
Jackson Lab has plans to partner with the University of Connecticut to establish a $1.1 billion personalized medicine research lab at the university’s health center in Farmington, Conn. Last fall, the Connecticut General Assembly agreed to put $291 million in bonds toward the development of the facility, while the Bar Harbor-based lab has promised to create 320 jobs over 10 years and a total of 661 over 20 years.
While developing those plans, however, the university also has been investigating allegations of falsified research by a scientist at UConn’s Health Center. The researcher, Dr. Dipak Das, did some studies of resveratrol, an ingredient in red wine that has shown potential for promoting health.
Last week, Connecticut Gov. Dannel P. Malloy was quoted by the Hartford Courant newspaper as commenting about how the UConn investigation might affect plans for the school’s research partnership with Jackson Lab. After spending three years looking into complaints about Das’ research, UConn officials announced last week that they found 145 instances over seven years in which they believe Das fabricated, falsified and manipulated data.
“Do I think it’s helpful? The obvious answer is no,” the newspaper quoted Malloy as saying. The newspaper went on to indicate that Malloy pointed out the university began the investigation on its own and brought its findings to the appropriate external authorities.
Jackson Lab officials released a brief statement on Jan. 13 about the UConn investigation. Jackson Lab is not and never has been connected with Das and his research, they indicated.
“We’re encouraged to see the university take it so seriously and to investigate it so thoroughly, in keeping with its high standard of scientific integrity,” lab spokeswoman Joyce Peterson wrote Friday in a brief email.
In a prepared statement released earlier this month, Jackson Lab officials said its initial operations at UConn Health Center will begin this year in leased space while a 173,000-square-foot permanent facility is designed and built on a 17-acre site at the school. Construction will begin in 2013, and the new facility will open in 2014.
The facility is expected to house 300 biomedical researchers, technicians and support staff in state-of-the-art computing facilities and laboratories, according to lab officials. It will draw upon Jackson’s eight decades of research and the medical expertise of Connecticut’s universities and hospitals, including UConn Health Center and Yale University School of Medicine, to find new ways to tailor disease diagnosis, prevention and treatment to each person’s unique genetic makeup, or genome.
Jackson Lab had planned to build a personalized medicine research center in Florida, first in Collier County and then in Sarasota County, but withdrew those plans last summer because of insufficient financial support from the state.
Lab officials have said they plan over time to continue expanding their existing facilities and operations in Bar Harbor, which they said will benefit from the project in Connecticut. With more than 1,200 employees in Bar Harbor, Jackson Lab is one of the largest employers in eastern Maine and is the largest in Hancock County.
Jackson Lab is known internationally for its use of mice to research human disease and medical conditions. Each year it produces millions of specially bred laboratory mice that are used in similar studies all over the world.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Follow reporter Bill Trotter on Twitter at @billtrotter.
Why would Jackson Lab say no to hundreds of millions???
Where did you read that exactly?
2nd paragraph.
the story doesn’t explain why they are not building this in Maine…did ther reporter think to ask that question?
Probably because we don’t have a research/scientific university quite like theirs.
We don’t have a state university Medical Center. Lick tried to get UMaine’s College of Medicine started in the 70’s and 80’s, but the southern part of the state wanted (a) no competition for Maine Medical Center, and (b) no draw for producing doctors and jobs so far north.
BDN editorial oversight, AGAIN…….
http://bangor-launch.newspackstaging.com/2011/10/28/opinion/editorials/600-jackson-lab-jobs-in-connecticut-why-not-maine/
Well the state of Conneticut is chipping in 300 mill to the project, and Maine doesn’t have any of the facilities to host a research lab. Maine does have the market cornered on Antique stores though
Jackson Lab. How to make millions while being a tax free non-profit.
So? All profits benefit the operations of Jackson Laboratory. There are no shareholders. Major universities such as Harvard, Yale, MIT, operate on the same principles. Would you rather the money go to Warren Buffet and investors?
Warren Buffet provides jobs AND pays taxes. Please don’t be misleading about this. Major universities are not the same as Jackson Labs.
Uh huh. Try that on one of the 1000+ working-class people employed there.
I’m just saying I think they should pay their fair share of taxes. So are you saying that any corporation or company that provides jobs shouldn’t have to pay taxes? Would you be as generous if Exxon/Mobil set up a non-profit to avoid paying taxes? Come to think of it, I’m pretty sure they don’t pay their fair share either.
No, they could not. Nonprofits receive scrutiny over how they make their money and how they spend their money for exactly this reason. If a nonprofit such as Sea Coast Mission or Jackson Lab had to pay taxes, they would not be able to be in business.
Actually non-profits are remarkably under regulated. They are not even required to make public the names of their board members.
The millions it makes goes back into research, so it’s a non-profit. Maine benefits greatly from nonprofits such as Jackson Lab, as the thousands of workers they employ can attest.
Fabricated research is nothing new. In fact, a surprising number of research studies cannot be duplicated the second time around, either mistakes or fabrication. So I guess that means we need to take most things with a grain of salt. Unfortunate but true.
It was reported a couple of weeks ago in the Wall Street Journal that an increasing number of studies cannot be replicated and it truly is discouraging.
wait…does that mean that salt is gd or bad…..now
Another example of government picking winners and losers. How about getting “big pharm” to fund this. They will ultimately be the ones to reap the profits from the research being done.
It’s a global landscape for scientific research, we need to keep pace with other nations who fund research. Unless you don’t care if the US gets surpassed in yet another market.
If we let the free market run at it’s supposed to, we would be second to none in any market, but if you want to believe that this is the way it’s supposed to be done, then I’m ok with you believing in fairy tales.
Dr. Dipak Das sounds like the bottom of the barrel when it comes to ethics, scarey stuff. I also agree with Oliver Ellsworth, Big Pharmaceutical Companies should fund the research, and this is the explanation medicine customers get as to why the same medicines are so much costlier here in the USA compared to other countries prices.
Thankfully, the scientific process helps expose this kind of unethical behavior! Human beings are fallible creatures, and mistakes in research can happen, but the process is sound and has helped us learn so much about the universe, our biology, and our world.