NIH Investigators Cite Misconduct by Former UCSD Researcher Turned Top Neuroscientist

A National Institutes of Health investigation has found research misconduct by one of its top neuroscientists, the agency said Thursday.

Dr. Eliezer Masliah previously spent decades as a researcher at the University of California, San Diego.

Masliah has long studied damage to synapses — junctions where brain cells communicate — in neurodegenerative diseases such as Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s. He has published numerous scientific papers while at NIH and UCSD.

In a statement, the NIH said the findings involve images in two studies co-authored by Dr. Eliezer Masliah, who in 2016 joined the agency’s National Institute on Aging as its neuroscience division director.

NIH said images or “figure panels” that represented different experimental results were reused or relabeled in the publications. NIH said it would notify the two scientific journals of the findings “so that appropriate action can be taken.”

NIH’s statement came as the journal Science published an article detailing allegations of suspect images in more than 100 research papers published between 1997 and 2023 — including some that played a role in early development of possible medications — that were co-authored by Masliah.

“His roughly 800 research papers, many on how those conditions damage synapses, the junctions between neurons, have made him one of the most cited scientists in his field,” said the article.

His work on Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s has influenced science at all levels. But fundamental questions have come up about the quality of some of his research, the article said, including inappropriately reusing images within and across papers.

“A Science investigation has now found that scores of his lab studies at UCSD and NIA are riddled with apparently falsified Western blots — images used to show the presence of proteins — and micrographs of brain tissue,” the article added.

According to a statement from the National Institutes of Health, Masliah is not currently serving as neuroscience division director, a position that oversees a broad swath of research projects funded by the aging institute.

“Amy Kelley, M.D., NIA Deputy Director, is also serving as the Acting NIA DN Director,” the statement said. “Beyond this information, NIH does not discuss personnel matters.”

NIH said it began investigating the allegations last year and notified the Department of Health and Human Services’ Office of Research Integrity of the findings on Sept. 15.

Masliah did not respond to an email seeking comment.

Associated Press contributed to this report.