University of Minnesota-Twin Cities. Courtesy photo.
A University of Minnesota neuroscientist suspected of doctoring images in a highly influential study of Alzheimer’s disease is resigning from the university after years of intense scrutiny.
Sylvain Lesné was the lead author of a 2006 Nature study purporting to pinpoint a specific compound, known as Aβ*56, as a chief cause of Alzheimer’s. The paper, which was written under the supervision of fellow U scientist Karen Ashe, sent shockwaves through the Alzheimer’s research community. It became one of the most-cited works in the field, and spurred countless other studies.
Following its publication, hundreds of millions in public and private funding was devoted to similar strands of research into the disease.
More than a decade later, however, academic sleuths uncovered compelling evidence that some of the images in the paper had been digitally altered. After a lengthy investigation that grew to encompass at least 20 other papers authored by Lesné, the Nature paper was formally retracted in 2024.
The retraction notice cited “signs of excessive manipulation, including splicing, duplication and the use of an eraser tool.” The retraction was approved by every author except Lesné, who colleagues said was responsible for the final images.
Elisabeth Bik, a microbiologist who helped uncover some of the image alterations in Lesné‘s work, calls the manipulation “a severe breach of scientific integrity.” The findings “led many other studies in the wrong direction,” which in turn caused “false hope among patients and their families, and lost of frustrations and missed opportunities for other research groups trying to reproduce these results.”
Lesné did not respond to a request for comment. A spokesman for the University of Minnesota did not give a specific reason for his resignation but said it would be effective March 1. The University told the Star Tribune in 2023 that Lesné had been cleared of misconduct in its investigation of the Nature paper, but that investigations into his other publications were ongoing.
Another major University of Minnesota finding, by a separate team of researchers working on stem cells, was also formally retracted by Nature in 2024 following similar allegations of image manipulation.
The University told the Star Tribune that it now has publication ethics rules that weren’t in place at the time of the retracted papers’ publications in the early 2000s.
“Rewards for fraud in science are high, while the chances of getting caught or repercussions are low,” Bik said. She believes that overall, the image alterations that get detected are “just the tip of the iceberg” of the actual fraud occurring in scientific research.