送交者: Immunologist 于 2006-4-14, 18:22:25:
I have been a loyal XYS reader for a while. Recently the dispute between Dr.Si, Dr.Fang vs. Dr. Wei has drawn a lot of attention both in China and among Chinese scholars abroad. As an Immunologist, I don’t think Dr.Si and Dr.Fang have enough evidence to accuse Dr.Wei of fraud. To reach a verdict of fraud or not, you have to examine the original data book instead of picking up things YOU don’t believe from the published paper. You have the right to be suspicious, but you absolutely have no right to call it a “fraud” in public before you have the hard evidence.
Based on the letters by Dr.Si, I couldn’t believe that he has been working in Immunology field for decades as a full Professor. In his letters to the editors of Nature Medicine and to the XYS, he made several serious immunological mistakes ( e.g. he thinks all antigens are equal in the immune system, BCR generation has nothing to do with peptide presentation by MHC molecules etc..). I don’t know what the reaction was when the editor of NM was reading his letter. The poor creditability of Dr.Si’s letter could be one of the reasons that it was never published by NM. What’s worse, it seems to Dr.Si that anybody who doesn’t share his opinion or anybody who challenges what’s written in a textbook is a fraud. He accuses his colleague of cheating without any hard evidence but only based on his personal judgments. And his personal judgments, at least most of them, were incorrect. It’s not only ridiculous, it’s absolutely wrong.
As to the comments edited and posted by Dr.Fang on XYS, most of them are personal attacks rather than scientific discussion or debate. Most of the authors, including Dr.Fang, either don’t know what they are talking about or have little understanding of immunology, let alone cancer immunobiology. I am very much amazed by all the self-confidence they have showed in their posts.
I’d like to make some suggestions to Dr.Fang if I may. Since you are not an expert on everything, please focus on investigating the obvious frauds such as the case of Dr.Hui Liu. In those cases, I applaud you for what you have done. But for the academic dispute and fraud accusation which involve lots of professional experience and knowledge, you cannot make a conclusion or suggestion in public without correct understanding and extensive investigation. You cannot trust any so called “expert” either. A committee consist of heads of different expertise would serve you better.
A disclaimer: I never heard of Dr.Si before. The only immunologist from Xian I have ever spoken to is Dr.Jin boquan. I did meet Dr.Wei in person when I was giving lectures in China. I have also met Dr.Cao xuetao in Shanghai, Dr.Chen weifeng in Beijing and a bunch of other excellent immunologists in China. They are outstanding and they are the future of the immunological studies in China.
If anyone find what I have written here is offensive to him/her, please accept my apology. I didn’t mean it. Please also re-read what you have posted and think if it will insult others as well.