曹雪涛院士回复“数据造假”质疑对论文重复性充满信心

　　针对Elisabeth Bik发文质疑2008年发表在Blood杂志上的文章数据，曹雪涛院士本人进行了回应：

　　Elisabeth Bik提出的质疑：

　　Figure 1A. The "unstimulated" and "LPS" panels in the BAPTA-AM row appear to look unexpectedly similar. Shown with red boxes. Could the authors please check?

　　以下为曹雪涛院士的回复：

　　Dear Dr. Bik,

　　I’m writing to you in response to recent inquiries you posted with regard to mentioned studies conducted at the National Key Laboratory of Medical Immunology and Institute of Immunology at the Second Military Medical University, with me being the corresponding author.

　　对于您最近发表的关于在第二军医大学医学免疫学国家重点实验室和免疫学研究所进行的上述研究的询问，我写信给您，我是通讯作者。

　　I appreciate your interest in our work and your commitment to protecting the accuracy of scientific records and the integrity of research pursuit. They are of utmost importance to me all along as well. Upon being notified of your inquiries, I have made them our highest priority and immediately took steps to look into the concerns you raised with the team and collaborators and carefully re-examined our manuscripts and raw data and lab records. We’ll work with the relevant journal editorial office(s) immediately if our investigation indicates any risk to the highest degree of accuracy of the published records.（首要任务就是自查，如果有问题，就撤稿！）

　　感谢您对我们工作的兴趣以及您对保护科学记录的准确性和研究追求的完整性的承诺。一直以来，它们对我也至关重要。在收到您的询问后，我将其列为我们的首要任务，并立即采取措施调查您与团队和合作者提出的问题，并仔细地重新检查了我们的手稿，原始数据和实验室记录。如果我们的调查显示所发布记录的最高准确性存在任何风险，我们将立即与相关的期刊编辑部合作。

　　Based on our analyses up to this point (still ongoing) and additional feedback we received from colleagues and peers, I would like to add that I remain confident about the validity and strength of the scientific conclusions made in those publications and our work’s reproducibility. Nevertheless, there is no excuse for any lapse in supervision or laboratory leadership and the concerns you raised serve as a fresh reminder to me just how important my role and responsibility are as mentor, supervisor, and lab leader； and how I might have fallen short. I feel therefore very heavy-hearted and tremendously sorry, to my current and former students, my staff and colleagues, my peers, and the larger community. I most sincerely apologize for any oversight on my part and any inconvenience it might have caused. I’ll use this as an invaluable learning opportunity to do better not only in advancing science, but also in safeguarding the accuracy and integrity of science.

　　根据到目前为止的分析（仍在进行中）以及从同事和同行那里获得的其他反馈，我想补充一点，我对这些出版物中得出的科学结论的有效性和优势以及我们工作的可重复性仍然充满信心。然而，监督或实验室领导地位的任何失调都是没有借口的，您提出的疑虑再次提醒我，我作为指导者，主管和实验室领导者的角色和责任是多么重要；以及我可能无法做到的事情。因此，对于我现在和以前的学生，我的员工和同事，我的同龄人以及整个社区，我感到非常心情沉重，并感到非常抱歉。对于我的疏忽以及给您带来的不便，我深表歉意。

　　Yours sincerely,

　　Xuetao Cao

　　在信中，曹雪涛院士表达了歉意，特别指出，作为领导者难辞其咎。但同时也强调对实验的重复性充满信心。

　　作为本土培养的免疫学界标杆人物，无数人的偶像，曹雪涛院士及时回复质疑，直面问题，就事论事，我只能说，这比过往其他好多被质疑的“心虚教授”不知强多少...

　　但是作为科研数据的严谨性来说，此次事件也给曹雪涛院士团队敲响了警钟，高处不胜寒，作为标杆人物，任何一点瑕疵都会被放大，即使对文章的数据可重复性胸有成竹。

　　曹雪涛院士简介

　　曹雪涛院士1964年出生于山东省济南市，17岁就读于第二军医大学海医系本科，22岁在第二军医大学攻读硕士研究生，26岁时硕士毕业于第二军医大学。同在26岁时被授予博士学位，28岁破格晋升为当时我国最年轻的医学教授。32岁晋升为博士生导师，33岁担任全军免疫与基因治疗重点实验室主任，41岁成为当时最年轻的中国工程院院士。此外，他还是当时我国最年轻的将军。目前是南开大学校长。