Examine, a free weekly newsletter covering science with a sceptical, evidence-based eye, is sent every Tuesday. You’re reading an excerpt –Modern medicine stands on the shoulders of Henrietta Lacks, a woman who, in January 1951, presented to Johns Hopkins Hospital for cervical cancer treatment because it was one of the few places in Baltimore that would treat African American patients.
Named “HeLa” from Lacks’ first and last names, that first cell line has been fundamental to the scientific study of polio, HIV, cancer, blood disorders, ebola and COVID-19.
These cell lines weren’t in Cellosaurus. There were no previous papers that described how the cells were established. They were missing genetic identification markers. And, although some researchers claimed they had obtained the cells from repositories , Byrne and Oste couldn’t find them listed in catalogues.
“The concern that I have is that many laboratory researchers are actually out there possibly trying to reproduce experiments that never existed,” Byrne says. Many of the problematic studies emerged from Chinese hospitals, which have been identified as a hotbed of “paper mill” activity. This refers to researchers churning out papers with shoddy data in disreputable journals just to boost their own professional standing or attract funding.