The university, based in Evanston, Ill., violated the Civil Monetary Penalties Law when a former researcher at the school falsified work funded by an NIH award, according to a November 2025 press release from the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services’ Office of Inspector General. The researcher and other investigators then referenced the falsified research in grant applications, reports and other submissions to NIH for two other awards, according to OIG. Together, the three grants totaled about $5 million, with $3.5 million tied to Northwestern.

Jing Liu, who now works at the University of Illinois Cancer Center, is the principal investigator named on the three grants. At least one retraction seems to have resulted from the research falsification. In January 2025, Nature Immunology retracted a 2013 paper about the gene regulator Miz1 and its effects on inflammation and acute lung injury. The retraction notices states seven of the 16 coauthors, including Liu, disagreed with the retraction, and one author agreed to it.

Source https://retractionwatch.com/2026/01/14/northwestern-to-pay-2-3-million-for-falsified-research-in-nih-grants/

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