Twelve years after sleuths flagged problematic images in a 2009 paper, the authors – including the head of a UK research institute – have retracted the article. According to the June 1, 2025 retraction notice, the authors retracted the paper because of "anomalies in the data presented" in multiple figures.

Starting in 2013, multiple comments on PubPeer pointed out problems with figures in the paper. In 2023, Elisabeth Bik, an expert in detecting image manipulation, compiled the prior comments along with a few additional problems she found. "The amount of image duplication, with – what appears to be – digital copy/pasting of parts of blot panels and lanes is a strong indicator of an intention-to-mislead," Elisabeth Bik, an expert in detecting image manipulation, told.

Source https://retractionwatch.com/2025/07/18/director-of-cambridge-toxicology-institute-retracts-paper-for-potential-image-manipulation/

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