A group of research integrity activists say they have found widespread evidence of image manipulation in Thermo Fisher Scientific’s catalog of antibody reagents. The matter brings concerns about scientific integrity to one of the largest reagent vendors in the life sciences field.
Biochemists use antibodies to pick out target proteins and monitor how they change across conditions in experiments like Western blots and fluorescence imaging. But some antibodies bind to off-target molecules, too, thus creating headaches for researchers, who for years have called for better validation.
“Antibodies are complicated reagents,” says Alex Merz, a professor at the University of Washington. His lab, like many other labs, field tests every new antibody it uses; he estimates that the cost of such validation runs thousands of dollars per new reagent. “The potential costs every time a reagent turns out to be not as advertised—either because it’s just not as good or because of active deceit—are enormous,” Merz says.
Thermo Fisher’s catalog of more than 250,000 primary antibodies includes sample validation data showing how customers can expect each reagent to perform. For example, the catalog might show a Western blot using some cells that express the target protein and others that don’t.
When Reese Richardson adjusted the contrast on images from the Thermo Fisher Scientific catalog like this one (left), he found patterns suggesting that images had been altered (right). Credit:
Reese Richardson
Research sleuth Sholto David posted on May 17 that he had found evidence of image alteration in a blot used to advertise a Thermo Fisher antibody that binds the protein p53. On May 21, Johan Duchêne, a professor at Ludwig Maximilian University Munich, identified another altered image, and Northwestern University postdoc researcher Reese Richardson found several more in advertisements for other products. Today David and Richardson posted 124 images from the Thermo Fisher catalog that appear to show data manipulation.
“I and Sholto do a lot of work finding manipulations in the academic literature. This is a whole different ballgame,” Richardson says of the manipulation he says they uncovered at a commercial vendor. “There’s no accountability mechanism, and it affects scientists working across a bunch of different fields.”
In a statement emailed to C&EN, Thermo Fisher Scientific chief communications officer Sandy Pound says, “We take antibody validation, specificity and accurate product documentation seriously, and we are committed to the transparent and ethical generation, analysis and presentation of scientific data. In the process of preparing antibody images for publication on our website, some images may have been adjusted to clarify for presentation purposes.”
According to dates and metadata in the image files he examined, Richardson says the problem goes back at least to 2019 and was ongoing as recently as 2025. Some images show duplicated bands, which might make an antibody appear to bind where it does not. Others show background manipulation, which could conceal nonspecific binding or cover a routine experimental blemish. The antibodies in question may bind to their intended targets—but without reliable validation data, it’s hard to tell. Richardson says he thinks Thermo Fisher should repeat validation of every product that’s affected and perhaps offer refunds.
“Thermo will be a vendor of last resort to me going forward, until or unless they forthrightly address” the allegations, Merz says. But given the company’s size, he adds, he isn’t sure alternatives will always be available.
In the company statement, Pound says that the company plans on “providing the original and adjusted versions of the relevant images, as well as ensuring that users are informed that antibody images may have been optimized for presentation on the website.”
CORRECTION
This story was updated on May 29, 2026, to clarify the people who were involved in curating the database of apparently altered images posted on May 28. They are Sholto David and Reese Richardson. Johan Duchêne identified only one image and did not participate in further investigation.
Laurel Oldach is a senior editor and life sciences reporter at C&EN.
