Catherine Verfaillie
Encyclopedia
Catherine M. Verfaillie (born 1957) is a Belgian
molecular biologist and professor at the Katholieke Universiteit Leuven
(Leuven, Belgium). Her work on the ability of adult stem cells to differentiate to different cell types has garnered controversy due to accusations of poor laboratory practices and fabrication of data by members of her laboratory.
, she obtained an M.D. from the Katholieke Universiteit Leuven
in 1982, after which she specialized in internal medicine. In 1987 she departed for the United States
as a research fellow at the University of Minnesota
. She worked in the lab of Dr. Phillip McGlave in hematopoiesis and stromal control of hematopoietic stem cells, in 1991 becoming a professor in the Department of Medicine, becoming a full professor in 1997.
Verfaillie was Director of the Stem Cell Institute at the University of Minnesota
(U.S.
) from 1998 until 2006. In a widely noted paper in 2002, she claimed that a specific type of adult-derived stem cells (termed multipotent adult progenitor cells (MAPC),.
She is a Professor of Medicine in the Division of Hematology, Oncology and Transplantation of the University of Minnesota's Medical School. She holds the Anderson Chair in Stem Cell Biology and the McKnight's Presidential Chair in Stem Cell Biology. She now leads the Stamcel Instituut te Leuven (SCIL) (E: Stem Cell Institute Leuven) at the Katholieke Universiteit Leuven in Leuven, Belgium. She is a member of the Advisory Board of the Itinera Institute
think-tank.
only. The report was immediately also used heralded by conservative lawmakers opposed to embryonic stem cell research as proof that such research is not needed. Skepticism surrounded the announcement from the beginning: Dr Stuart Orkin from the Harvard Medical School
noted "If the cells are what she says -- and I have no reason to dispute that but no one has demonstrated it yet -- it's pretty remarkable. For people interested in tissue regeneration, this would be the cell to work with."
Dr. Verfaillie was noted to immediately benefit from the interest in adult stem cells with her lab size and funding immediately doubling.
The discovery was considered so ground-breaking that she received several accolades in the first few years after the initial report. The British biomedical publication New Scientist
declared it as the "ultimate stem cell discovery". Problems with working with MAPCs proved difficult to several laboratories who were keen to co-operate in expanding the use of MAPCs. In a report in Nature, Dr. Rudolf Jaenisch
at MIT was quoted by Nature stating that "I have not seen any convincing data showing that anyone has repeated the chimaera experiment, so I don't think this part of it is true", referring to the claim by Verfaillie that MAPCs when injected into mouse embryos contribute to all tissues.
The same article also quoted to Dr. Stuart Orkin of Harvard Medical School that the material transfer agreement (MTA) for procuring these cells were so restrictive that his group refused to work with them.
First reports on potential problems with Verfaillie's group's work came in early 2007 when New Scientist
reported that the 2002 Nature paper had some of the images appear in a second paper published at about the same time. The article also revealed duplication of images in a 2001 paper on blood, authored by Verfaillie's trainee, Morayma Reyes, and that a patent application for the MAPCs was licensed to a company called Athersys, based in Cleveland, Ohio
. A series of investigations into at least three instances of data duplication/ fabrication by the University of Minnesota followed, which eventually concluded in October 2008 that Morayma Reyes had fabricated data in the 2001 paper.
The panel criticized Dr. Verfaillie's laboratory for “poor scientific method and inadequate training and oversight for this research”. It contacted Blood and asked the journal to retract the paper. The investigators also found discrepancies with images in a second paper from Dr. Verfaillie's laboratory, published in the Journal of Clinical Investigation in 2002. Those problems did not rise to the level of academic misconduct, the university said. It did not find fault directly with Verfaillie, but Dr. Tim Mulcahy concluded that the “message here is that everyone needs to fulfill their responsibility to the public and to science”.
In response to the investigation at the University of Minnesota
, Nature instituted their own investigation to the 2002 controversial paper and Verfaillie was allowed to make a Corrigendum to the original paper, which did not acknowledge fabrication of data, and claimed that the original observation still held. The issue raised by Rudolf Jaenisch
and others regarding the non-reproducibility of the blastocyst injection data was not addressed by the reviewers of Verfaillie. In early 2010, a third paper by the group in the American Journal of Cell Physiology was withdrawn due to "data presented have now been shown to be unreliable. This was again prompted by an investigation by 'New Scientist.
at Seattle (UW) before the fraud was discovered. Any separate investigation by UW has not been confirmed.
Dr. Verfaillie moved to the Katholieke Universiteit Leuven
at the height of the controversy in 2008 but retained her position at the University of Minnesota
. She has continued to defend her work and gave a list of publications that have proven the utility of MAPCs, albeit without addressing the criticisms of how the key parts of her work could not be reproduced by other labs. In 2007, she collaborated with Dr. Irving Weissman at Stanford University
to demonstrate that MAPCs could produce blood cells although she did not address the key claims of her original 2002 paper.
Dr. Verfaillie is on the editorial board of journals such as Experimental Hematology and PLOS one.
Belgium
Belgium , officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a federal state in Western Europe. It is a founding member of the European Union and hosts the EU's headquarters, and those of several other major international organisations such as NATO.Belgium is also a member of, or affiliated to, many...
molecular biologist and professor at the Katholieke Universiteit Leuven
Katholieke Universiteit Leuven
The Katholieke Universiteit Leuven is a Dutch-speaking university in Flanders, Belgium.It is located at the centre of the historic town of Leuven, and is a prominent part of the city, home to the university since 1425...
(Leuven, Belgium). Her work on the ability of adult stem cells to differentiate to different cell types has garnered controversy due to accusations of poor laboratory practices and fabrication of data by members of her laboratory.
Education and career
Born in YpresYpres
Ypres is a Belgian municipality located in the Flemish province of West Flanders. The municipality comprises the city of Ypres and the villages of Boezinge, Brielen, Dikkebus, Elverdinge, Hollebeke, Sint-Jan, Vlamertinge, Voormezele, Zillebeke, and Zuidschote...
, she obtained an M.D. from the Katholieke Universiteit Leuven
Katholieke Universiteit Leuven
The Katholieke Universiteit Leuven is a Dutch-speaking university in Flanders, Belgium.It is located at the centre of the historic town of Leuven, and is a prominent part of the city, home to the university since 1425...
in 1982, after which she specialized in internal medicine. In 1987 she departed for the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
as a research fellow at the University of Minnesota
University of Minnesota
The University of Minnesota, Twin Cities is a public research university located in Minneapolis and St. Paul, Minnesota, United States. It is the oldest and largest part of the University of Minnesota system and has the fourth-largest main campus student body in the United States, with 52,557...
. She worked in the lab of Dr. Phillip McGlave in hematopoiesis and stromal control of hematopoietic stem cells, in 1991 becoming a professor in the Department of Medicine, becoming a full professor in 1997.
Verfaillie was Director of the Stem Cell Institute at the University of Minnesota
University of Minnesota
The University of Minnesota, Twin Cities is a public research university located in Minneapolis and St. Paul, Minnesota, United States. It is the oldest and largest part of the University of Minnesota system and has the fourth-largest main campus student body in the United States, with 52,557...
(U.S.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
) from 1998 until 2006. In a widely noted paper in 2002, she claimed that a specific type of adult-derived stem cells (termed multipotent adult progenitor cells (MAPC),.
She is a Professor of Medicine in the Division of Hematology, Oncology and Transplantation of the University of Minnesota's Medical School. She holds the Anderson Chair in Stem Cell Biology and the McKnight's Presidential Chair in Stem Cell Biology. She now leads the Stamcel Instituut te Leuven (SCIL) (E: Stem Cell Institute Leuven) at the Katholieke Universiteit Leuven in Leuven, Belgium. She is a member of the Advisory Board of the Itinera Institute
Itinera Institute
The Itinera Institute is a Brussels-based independent think-tank that undertakes research that “identifies and promotes roads for policy reform towards sustained economic growth and social protection, for Belgium and its regions.” It was founded in 2006 by Professor Marc De Vos.-Scholars:As of mid...
think-tank.
Controversy and aftermath over Stem Cell Falsification
The report was immediately sensational in scientific circles given that it was the first report of adult-derived stem cells to have properties previously ascribed to embryonic stem cellEmbryonic stem cell
Embryonic stem cells are pluripotent stem cells derived from the inner cell mass of the blastocyst, an early-stage embryo. Human embryos reach the blastocyst stage 4–5 days post fertilization, at which time they consist of 50–150 cells...
only. The report was immediately also used heralded by conservative lawmakers opposed to embryonic stem cell research as proof that such research is not needed. Skepticism surrounded the announcement from the beginning: Dr Stuart Orkin from the Harvard Medical School
Harvard Medical School
Harvard Medical School is the graduate medical school of Harvard University. It is located in the Longwood Medical Area of the Mission Hill neighborhood of Boston, Massachusetts....
noted "If the cells are what she says -- and I have no reason to dispute that but no one has demonstrated it yet -- it's pretty remarkable. For people interested in tissue regeneration, this would be the cell to work with."
Dr. Verfaillie was noted to immediately benefit from the interest in adult stem cells with her lab size and funding immediately doubling.
The discovery was considered so ground-breaking that she received several accolades in the first few years after the initial report. The British biomedical publication New Scientist
New Scientist
New Scientist is a weekly non-peer-reviewed English-language international science magazine, which since 1996 has also run a website, covering recent developments in science and technology for a general audience. Founded in 1956, it is published by Reed Business Information Ltd, a subsidiary of...
declared it as the "ultimate stem cell discovery". Problems with working with MAPCs proved difficult to several laboratories who were keen to co-operate in expanding the use of MAPCs. In a report in Nature, Dr. Rudolf Jaenisch
Rudolf Jaenisch
Rudolf Jaenisch is a biologist at MIT. He is a pioneer of transgenic science, in which an animal’s genetic makeup is altered. Jaenisch has focused on creating transgenic mice to study cancer and neurological diseases....
at MIT was quoted by Nature stating that "I have not seen any convincing data showing that anyone has repeated the chimaera experiment, so I don't think this part of it is true", referring to the claim by Verfaillie that MAPCs when injected into mouse embryos contribute to all tissues.
The same article also quoted to Dr. Stuart Orkin of Harvard Medical School that the material transfer agreement (MTA) for procuring these cells were so restrictive that his group refused to work with them.
First reports on potential problems with Verfaillie's group's work came in early 2007 when New Scientist
New Scientist
New Scientist is a weekly non-peer-reviewed English-language international science magazine, which since 1996 has also run a website, covering recent developments in science and technology for a general audience. Founded in 1956, it is published by Reed Business Information Ltd, a subsidiary of...
reported that the 2002 Nature paper had some of the images appear in a second paper published at about the same time. The article also revealed duplication of images in a 2001 paper on blood, authored by Verfaillie's trainee, Morayma Reyes, and that a patent application for the MAPCs was licensed to a company called Athersys, based in Cleveland, Ohio
Cleveland, Ohio
Cleveland is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and is the county seat of Cuyahoga County, the most populous county in the state. The city is located in northeastern Ohio on the southern shore of Lake Erie, approximately west of the Pennsylvania border...
. A series of investigations into at least three instances of data duplication/ fabrication by the University of Minnesota followed, which eventually concluded in October 2008 that Morayma Reyes had fabricated data in the 2001 paper.
The panel criticized Dr. Verfaillie's laboratory for “poor scientific method and inadequate training and oversight for this research”. It contacted Blood and asked the journal to retract the paper. The investigators also found discrepancies with images in a second paper from Dr. Verfaillie's laboratory, published in the Journal of Clinical Investigation in 2002. Those problems did not rise to the level of academic misconduct, the university said. It did not find fault directly with Verfaillie, but Dr. Tim Mulcahy concluded that the “message here is that everyone needs to fulfill their responsibility to the public and to science”.
In response to the investigation at the University of Minnesota
University of Minnesota
The University of Minnesota, Twin Cities is a public research university located in Minneapolis and St. Paul, Minnesota, United States. It is the oldest and largest part of the University of Minnesota system and has the fourth-largest main campus student body in the United States, with 52,557...
, Nature instituted their own investigation to the 2002 controversial paper and Verfaillie was allowed to make a Corrigendum to the original paper, which did not acknowledge fabrication of data, and claimed that the original observation still held. The issue raised by Rudolf Jaenisch
Rudolf Jaenisch
Rudolf Jaenisch is a biologist at MIT. He is a pioneer of transgenic science, in which an animal’s genetic makeup is altered. Jaenisch has focused on creating transgenic mice to study cancer and neurological diseases....
and others regarding the non-reproducibility of the blastocyst injection data was not addressed by the reviewers of Verfaillie. In early 2010, a third paper by the group in the American Journal of Cell Physiology was withdrawn due to "data presented have now been shown to be unreliable. This was again prompted by an investigation by 'New Scientist.
Aftermath of Scandal and move back to Belgium
Dr. Morayma Reyes, the student whom the University of Minnesota found guilty of fabrication was quoted as the errors being "honest" and due to "poor training" and "lack of clear guidelines about digital imaging". She was hired as faculty at the University of WashingtonUniversity of Washington
University of Washington is a public research university, founded in 1861 in Seattle, Washington, United States. The UW is the largest university in the Northwest and the oldest public university on the West Coast. The university has three campuses, with its largest campus in the University...
at Seattle (UW) before the fraud was discovered. Any separate investigation by UW has not been confirmed.
Dr. Verfaillie moved to the Katholieke Universiteit Leuven
Katholieke Universiteit Leuven
The Katholieke Universiteit Leuven is a Dutch-speaking university in Flanders, Belgium.It is located at the centre of the historic town of Leuven, and is a prominent part of the city, home to the university since 1425...
at the height of the controversy in 2008 but retained her position at the University of Minnesota
University of Minnesota
The University of Minnesota, Twin Cities is a public research university located in Minneapolis and St. Paul, Minnesota, United States. It is the oldest and largest part of the University of Minnesota system and has the fourth-largest main campus student body in the United States, with 52,557...
. She has continued to defend her work and gave a list of publications that have proven the utility of MAPCs, albeit without addressing the criticisms of how the key parts of her work could not be reproduced by other labs. In 2007, she collaborated with Dr. Irving Weissman at Stanford University
Stanford University
The Leland Stanford Junior University, commonly referred to as Stanford University or Stanford, is a private research university on an campus located near Palo Alto, California. It is situated in the northwestern Santa Clara Valley on the San Francisco Peninsula, approximately northwest of San...
to demonstrate that MAPCs could produce blood cells although she did not address the key claims of her original 2002 paper.
Dr. Verfaillie is on the editorial board of journals such as Experimental Hematology and PLOS one.