Federal investigation follows retraction of five animal experimentation papers

Newborn piglets. The advocacy group SAEN said the retracted research inflicted traumatic brain injury on dozens of newborn piglets. Photograph: Tingshu Wang/Reuters

The federal Office of Research Integrity (ORI) has begun an investigation into alleged misconduct after the retraction of five papers involving animal experiments on newborn piglets led by a now retired professor at the University of Pennsylvania.

The ORI confirmed that it had initiated an oversight review into the retracted papers that were produced by teams of researchers led by pharmacology professor William Armstead at Penn, which is part of the US’s prestigious Ivy League.