Milena Penkowa facts for kids

Milena Penkowa (born 1973) is a Danish neuroscientist. A neuroscientist studies the brain and nervous system. She was a professor at the University of Copenhagen from 2009 to 2010.

In 2010, problems were found with her research. She was suspended from her job. Later, it was decided that she had made serious mistakes in her scientific work. Because of this, several of her research papers were removed from scientific journals.

Milena Penkowa's Career and Research Issues

Milena Penkowa finished school in 1991. She then studied at the University of Copenhagen. She became an assistant professor there in 2000. By 2002, she was an associate professor. Her research focused on a protein called metallothionein.

In 2010, other scientists started to question her work. Her students could not get the same results when they tried to repeat her experiments. This made people wonder if her reported experiments had actually been done.

Concerns About Her Research

Because of these concerns, Milena Penkowa was suspended from her professor job. Many of her research papers were taken back by the journals that published them. This is called a "retraction."

During the investigation, there were also questions about how she used money for her research. The University of Copenhagen even returned some money to a group that had given her a grant. Many researchers asked for a full review of her work. They suspected that some of her research data might have been made up.

Milena Penkowa said she had not done anything wrong. However, she left her job as a professor in December 2010.

Official Findings and Consequences

In 2012, a group of experts looked closely at her research. They found strong reasons to believe there were serious problems in 15 of her articles. Milena Penkowa said that everyone makes mistakes. She apologized for any "unforeseen errors" in her work. But she said she never intentionally did anything wrong.

In 2017, the University of Copenhagen took away her doctoral degree. This happened after they decided she had tried to hide her scientific mistakes.

See Also

• List of scientific misconduct incidents