Dr. Apple, a researcher working under a National Science Foundation (NSF) grant is studying the replication of bacteriophage in E. coli. Dr. Apple attends a lecture where a world-renowned scientist, Dr. Ball, discusses her studies on the replication of a particularly useful bacteriophage that infects E. coli. Dr. Apple requests a sample of Dr. Ball's bacteriophage. Dr. Ball declines to provide a sample, even after several persistent and strongly worded telephone calls from Dr. Apple. Dr. Apple, obsessed with securing Dr. Ball's bacteriophage has a plan. Dr. Apple writes a letter to Dr. Ball and again requests the material. At the conclusion of the letter, Dr. Apple pleads, "If you insist on denying me this virus, at least give me the courtesy of a written response to this letter." Dr. Ball quickly responds with one page, one sentence response: "Forget it!" After receiving Dr. Ball's letter, Dr. Apple knowing Dr. Ball's propensity for performing all her working tasks at the lab bench, takes the letter, places it in a blender making a slurry using a sterile buffer and spreads the slurry on lawns of bacteriophage recipient strains of E. coli. Soon, Dr. Apple isolates the long-sought strain of the bacteriophage.

Questions:
1. What are the implications of the refusal to share data?
2. Were Dr. Apple's actions appropriate?
3. Should Dr. Apple's actions give rise to an investigation of possible scientific misconduct by the NSF?
4. If the bacteriophage were used in a commercial pharmaceutical process and Dr. Ball was employed by the pharmaceutical company, did Dr. Apple illegally obtain a trade secret from Dr. Ball?


http://research-ethics.org/topics/data-management/#discussion



Last modified: Tuesday, 12 March 2019, 2:02 PM