Sylvain E. Lesné (born 1974) is a French neuroscientist and former associate professor at the Department of Neuroscience at the University of Minnesota (UMN) Medical School, known for his research into Alzheimer's disease.
[12] The Minneapolis Star Tribune described Ashe as a "distinguished professor considered by many to be on the short list for a Nobel Prize for her work".
[14] Ashe in turn has described Lesné as her "brilliant postdoctoral fellow"; he had claimed to have developed a means of measuring amyloid beta (Aβ) oligomer proteins separately inside and outside of cells.
[22] The paper, "A specific amyloid-β protein assembly in the brain impairs memory", suggested the Aβ*56 oligomer (known as amyloid beta star 56 and Abeta*56)[15] as a cause of Alzheimer's disease.
[22] According to the Star Tribune, images from the study showed the Aβ*56 protein growing as mice began to decline and age with dementia.
[25] For the paper, Lesné was listed as of May 13, 2022 at UMN Medical School's Wall of Scholarship recognizing faculty who "must have first or last author credits on a publication that has been cited at least 1,000 times".
[15] Matthew Schrag, a Vanderbilt University neuroscientist,[12] raised concerns in a whistleblower report that images were falsified,[25] casting doubt on the association between the Aβ*56 protein and dementia symptoms.
[29] The editors of Nature responded with a July 14, 2022 note stating that they were aware of and investigating the concerns and that "readers are advised to use caution when using results reported therein".
[1][15] The NIH, where Schrag lodged the whistleblower report, is also investigating the matter, and could decide to pass it on the United States Office of Research Integrity if the complaints are found valid.
[25] Lesné is the leading researcher overseeing or instigating the work in about ten disputed studies as of 2022;[15][22][30] as of May 2023, according to the Minneapolis Star Tribune, images have been questioned on 20 articles he has authored.
"[15][g] The Daily Telegraph states that the "authors of the Minnesota paper have defended their original findings" and support the role of amyloid as a cause of Alzheimer's.
[25] USA Today reported that Ashe had started the process to retract the Nature paper, but that had not been done as of July 29, 2022 because six of the eight co-authors would not sign off on the request.
[2][33] Nature published retraction of the article on June 24, 2024, noting that the edited images showed "excessive manipulation, including splicing, duplication and the use of an eraser tool".
[29] Alzheimer's researchers or organizations from Australia,[35] France,[13] and the UK[25][29][36] state that the general theory behind the amyloid hypothesis remains valid.
[24] A National Public Radio broadcast on the show All Things Considered linked instances of scientific misconduct to competition for funding.