As we enter the fourth week of our summer program, many of us are starting to venture into our research projects in a markedly more independent manner than before. The training wheels are finally starting to come off! This transition marks an important point in our journey as budding cancer researchers, as it comes not only with the excitement of greater freedom, but the critical responsibility of upholding scientific integrity.
During the past week’s seminar, we as a group discussed different types of ethical violations in science. We also went over case studies that stood out for their blatant disregard of proper scientific conduct. The worst part was that the papers associated with these fraudulent studies were cited by thousands upon thousands of other researchers around the world. The resulting networks of knowledge all inevitably came crashing down when their feeble foundation was exposed, effectively resulting in the waste of all the time, effort, and money that went into their construction.
Scientific progress is achieved through purposeful research, and research only has purpose if it is conducted ethically.
This is what we have been taught so far in our time at UT Austin, and it is what we must remember as we continue to work on our projects. Cancer is a deadly disease that can only be overcome through the proper and consistent effort of researchers in the lab. To this end, we can best contribute to the fight by creating our models, collecting our data, and presenting our results with the utmost integrity.
My friends and I at the BME CUReS Cancer REU have the next 7 weeks to make as much progress towards winning the War on Cancer as possible. By prioritizing ethical conduct, making it the hallmark of our work, I know that we will do great things!
– Reetwan Bandyopadhyay, University of Pittsburgh
