A scientist at the University of Iowa has been accused of an allegedly committing fraud in his scientific research to find a vaccine for HIV and AIDS.

Dr. Dong Pyou-Han contaminated the blood samples used in his research and claimed he had made a breakthrough. Dr. Han infected rabbits with the HIV virus and made the rabbits appear as if they were rapidly recovering from the disease after given a vaccine.

Dr. Han’s fabricated research earned a grant of 15 million dollars to the University of Iowa from the National Institution of Health. The first level of tests given by Dr. Han to the NIH was cleared to achieve the grant but his boss Dr. Cho questioned Dr. Han’s credibility and set up a “scientific trap” for Dr. Han’s research. When Dr. Han sent the blood samples in to Dr. Cho, Dr. Cho discovered the blood samples were contaminated with healthy human blood to make the rabbits appear to recover and gain an immunity to the virus.

After being found guilty of scientific fraud at the University of Iowa, Dr. Han was immediately fired from the university and charges are being brought against Dr. Han. Dr. Han has pleaded not guilty adding that he was “foolish, coward and not frank” and added at the end of his plead “my misconduct meant not to hurt anyone”.

“Just because someone has a PhD… just because someone is involved in the science community, doesn’t necessarily [mean he can] be treated differently than anyone else who’s committed a crime of offense”, the U.S. Attorney of southern Iowa, Nicholas Kleinfeldt said in a counter-statement.

A retraction watch is a formerly known as a group who tracks science research frauds states that “most scientists who fake their research rarely ever go to jail and rarely ever pay the tax payers for the misused grants”.

A spokesperson for the University of Iowa, John McCaroll stated the schools reaction was in “disbelief, shocked, surprised, and in disappointment”.

“The school received about fifteen million dollars in federal research grants and most is gone due to the lab gear but the school has repaid $500,000 back,” the spokesperson from the University of Iowa stated.

If Dr. Han is found guilty of scientific research fraud and can face up to twenty years in prison and a fine up to one million dollars.

 FSA CONNECTION

1. In this article, who is the author?
2. In this article, the word spokesperson means what?
3. The author gives out what main idea from this article?
4. Which two sentences in the article best supports the author’s main idea?
5. In this article, the connotation for the word “frank” means what?