Jennifer Byrne
Born
Jennifer Anne Byrne

1966 (age 57–58)
Alma materUniversity of Queensland
Scientific career
InstitutionsUniversity of Sydney
NSW Health Pathology
ThesisThe structure of the human ribonucleoside diphosphate reductase M1 subunit gene, and the use of this locus in studies of embryonal tumours (1993)

Jennifer Anne Byrne (born 1966)[1] is a Professor of Molecular Oncology at University of Sydney, Australia. Byrne is notable for not only her cancer research, but the uncovering of academic fraud and junk science in cancer research.[2]

As a result of her and her colleague's investigations, 17 papers have been retracted, and others have been noted.[3] As a result, the journal Nature rated Byrne as one of their "Ten people who mattered" in 2017.

Education

Byrne matriculated from St Margaret's Anglican Girls' School in Brisbane in 1983. She graduated from with a BSc and PhD (1993) from the University of Queensland.[4][1]

Research interests

Byrne has spent her career investigating adult and childhood cancer. She specializes in biobanking, cancer genetics as well as research integrity.[5] Her PhD involved mapping the loss of the chromosome 11p15 loci in embryonal tumours.[6]

Career

Byrne is currently (2020) employed by NSW Health Pathology as the Director of Biobanking. She leads the NSW Health biobanking program, including the NSW Health Statewide Biobank (NSWHSB). Her other positions include Professor of Molecular Oncology, at the School of Medical Sciences, at the University of Sydney. In addition, Byrne was previously the Deputy Director of a group called the Kids Cancer Alliance, which is a Translational Cancer Research Center within the Cancer Institute of NSW.[6]

Fraud investigation

While reading scientific articles on cancer research, Byrne noticed odd patterns in publications about a particular gene. The papers described 'strikingly similar' experiments on a gene that has been linked with childhood leukemia and breast cancer. She recognized the particular gene, because she had previously led the team that had cloned the gene 20 years earlier.[7]

Her experience on that gene made her realize that all of the papers, which were all from China, were describing the same nucleotide sequence yet some of the papers were describing this sequence wrongly. A nucleotide sequence is the specific order of letters which describes how a particular piece of DNA is composed. She noticed that the papers were describing wrong nucleotide sequences in the context of laboratory experiments performed with cancer cell lines. These wrong sequences implies that: (1) either the studies were not examining what they reported, or (2) the experiments had not been conducted as described. The implication is that each paper contains the seeds of bad research, that other papers could possibly build upon.[2]

Further evidence of fraud or junk science was suggested as other papers used the same sequences for the opposite purposes. This means that "a sequence used as a positive control in one research paper was used as a negative control in another".[8] As a result of her and her colleague Cyril Labbe's investigations, 17 papers have been retracted, and about five suspicious papers have been noted.[3]

A colleague described the importance of her whistleblowing cancer work as "finding fraud and bad science".[7]

"Projects like Jennifer’s actually are a key part of that. There are a lot more people looking at papers, there are a lot more available online, so people are finding more issues." Undark.org described her work as a "fight for dubious cancer research".[2] Byrne also lost her mother to cancer.[2]

Selected publications

  • We need to talk about systematic fraud. Nature. 6 February (2019).[9]
  • The LIM domain protein LMO4 interacts with the cofactor CtIP and the tumor suppressor BRCA1 and inhibits BRCA1 activity (2002) Sum, E., Peng, B, Yu, X., Chen, J, Byrne, J. et al. Journal of Biological Chemistry. 277:10 (7849-7856).[10]
  • Over-expression, amplification, and androgen regulation of TPD52 in prostate cancer (2004) Rubin, et al. Cancer research 64 (11), 3814–3822.[11]

Awards, honours and recognition

  • The journal Nature rated Byrne as one of "Ten people who matter".[7]
  • Nature Journal also rated Byrne as the only Australian, and named one of the Top 10 people to watch.[12]
  • Byrne was mentioned by Nature retraction watch.[13]
  • Byrne was an invited keynote speaker at the Sydney Cancer Conference, 2018.[14]

Media

  • The Sydney Morning Herald described her as one of "diverse individuals who have left a mark on science".[8]
  • SBS described her work, and the praise from Nature on her work uncovering fraudulent science.[15]
  • Nature described Byrne as an "Error Sleuth", and a researcher on a mission to expose flaws, and describes the tool she built to expose them.[16]
  • The tool used to detect flaws in cancer studies was described by the journal Nature.[17]
  • Byrne is involved in leadership in the Kid's Cancer Project fundraising for more effective cancer treatments .[18]

References

  1. 1 2 "The structure of the human ribonucleoside diphosphate reductase M1 subunit gene, and use of this locus in studies of embryonal tumours / Jennifer Anne Byrne". University of Queensland Library. Retrieved 17 January 2021.
  2. 1 2 3 4 "Using Software to Fight Cancer Research Fraud". Undark. 2 April 2018. Retrieved 13 August 2019.
  3. 1 2 trevorlstokes, Author (19 January 2017). "What turned a cancer researcher into a literature watchdog?". Retraction Watch. Retrieved 13 August 2019. {{cite web}}: |first= has generic name (help)
  4. ↑ "Professor Jennifer Byrne - St Margaret's". www.stmargarets.qld.edu.au. Retrieved 17 January 2021.
  5. ↑ "Jennifer Anne Byrne - Google Scholar Citations". scholar.google.com.au. Retrieved 13 August 2019.
  6. 1 2 Sydney, The University of. "Professor Jennifer Byrne - The University of Sydney". sydney.edu.au. Retrieved 13 August 2019.
  7. 1 2 3 "The Cancer Researcher Catching Scientific Fraud at Rapid Speed". www.yahoo.com. Retrieved 13 August 2019.
  8. 1 2 Aubusson, Kate (19 December 2017). "Sydney cancer scientist Jennifer Byrne named as one of 10 people who matter in science by Nature". The Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved 13 August 2019.
  9. ↑ Byrne, Jennifer (6 February 2019). "We need to talk about systematic fraud". Nature. 566 (7742): 9. Bibcode:2019Natur.566....9B. doi:10.1038/d41586-019-00439-9. PMID 30728525.
  10. ↑ Sum, Eleanor Y. M.; Peng, Benjamin; Yu, Xin; Chen, Junjie; Byrne, Jennifer; Lindeman, Geoffrey J.; Visvader, Jane E. (18 December 2001). "The LIM Domain Protein LMO4 Interacts with the Cofactor CtIP and the Tumor Suppressor BRCA1 and Inhibits BRCA1 Activity". Journal of Biological Chemistry. 277 (10): 7849–7856. doi:10.1074/jbc.m110603200. ISSN 0021-9258. PMID 11751867.
  11. ↑ Chinnaiyan, Arul M.; Sellers, William R.; Collins, Colin; Pienta, Kenneth J.; Byrne, Jennifier A.; Hsi, Bae-Li; Fletcher, Jonathan A.; Kuefer, Rainer; Storz-Schweizer, Martina (1 June 2004). "Overexpression, Amplification, and Androgen Regulation of TPD52 in Prostate Cancer". Cancer Research. 64 (11): 3814–3822. doi:10.1158/0008-5472.CAN-03-3881. ISSN 0008-5472. PMID 15172988.
  12. ↑ "Geneticist earns top journal praise".
  13. ↑ "Cancer researcher turned literature watchdog". 19 January 2017.
  14. ↑ "Speakers | Sydney Cancer Conference 2018". scc2018.com.au. Retrieved 13 August 2019.
  15. ↑ "Aussie geneticist earns top journal praise". SBS News. Retrieved 13 August 2019.
  16. ↑ "Nature's 10". www.nature.com. Retrieved 13 August 2019.
  17. ↑ Phillips, Nicky (23 November 2017). "Online software spots genetic errors in cancer papers". Nature News. 551 (7681): 422–423. Bibcode:2017Natur.551..422P. doi:10.1038/nature.2017.23003. PMID 29168818.
  18. ↑ "And the winners are…". www.thekidscancerproject.org.au. Retrieved 13 August 2019.
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