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This week’s news includes some updates from old misconduct cases, a scientist’s harrowing tale from Libya, protocells that trick viruses into their own demise, an endangered marine archive, and a new iPad app that lets researchers move molecules.

Some fraud updates

Immunlogist Luk van Parijs, the former Massachusetts Institute of Technology researcher who was fired in 2005 after admitting to fabricating data used for grants, manuscripts, and published papers, could face up to five years in prison as well as have to cough up $250,000 in fines, according to ScienceInsider. Among other offenses, Parijs faked data in a National Institutes of Health grant, falsely claiming to have developed a transgenic mouse line. His exact punishment will be determined at his sentencing on June 14.

Another old misconduct case also resurfaced last week when the US Food and Drug Administration issued a statement last Thursday debarring Dr. Albert Poet, an ear, nose, and throat doctor practicing in New Jersey. The judgment comes after a long investigation following Poet’s arrest in 2006 for injecting patients with a cheap, FDA-unapproved toxin labeled “not for human use” instead of BOTOX.

A narrow escape from Libya

When Libya’s bloody uprising against the 41-year-old regime of Colonel Muammar Qaddafi began in mid-February, anatomist, anthropologist, and fossil hunter Noel Boaz found himself trapped in the Libyan International Medical University campus amidst the sounds of gunshots and automatic weapons. For four days, he was unable to leave the premises save for a few brief moments in the mornings to search for food, Boaz told ScienceInsider last week. Nearly a week after the fighting began, he finally escaped to Egypt, but he still fears for the safety of rare and precious fossils housed in a former museum in Tripoli, where Col. Qaddafi recently took refuge.

Tricky virus traps

Artificial cells can act as decoys during a viral infection, luring and deactivating viruses before they can inflict damage to host tissues, according to a paper published last week in PLoS ONE. Known as protocells, the traps consist of a nanoporous silica core shrouded in an animal-like lipid membrane containing a protein targeted by henipaviruses, such as the Nipah and Hendra viruses, which can cause fatal encephalitis in humans. This membrane protein acts like bait, encouraging the virus to inject its material into the fake cell, where it will be unable to replicate. The authors suggest this tool can not only help gain further insight into the process of infection, but could also serve as an antiviral treatment for viruses that infect cells via membrane fusion.

Marine archive to be lost?

The Scripps Institution of Oceanography Library may be yet another casualty of the fiscal crisis plaguing the University of California system, which faces a $500 billion reduction in its overall budget, eliciting protests from around the state, according to Nature News. If the library is forced to close, researchers and students may lose access  to a treasure trove of printed information that includes more than 225,000 books, 700 print periodicals, and important historical documents of oceanographic explorations, with the exception of those with digitized copies and select collections that will be moved to other UC libraries.

Fiddling with molecules

A new iPad app lets scientist move around single molecules at a time with a simple swipe of a finger, according to Wired. Developed by researchers at the University of Glasgow, the app, known as iHologram, builds on a technique that won a Nobel Prize in Physics back in 2006 called optical tweezing, which uses lasers to freeze molecules into place for further manipulation. The iPad app displays the molecules as seen through a microscope, while being synched to a computer that controls the laser beams that physically move the molecules.

Related News Stories:

Immunologists prepare for fraud fallout
[3rd November 2005]

Library cuts threaten research
[28th September 2010]