Antibodies are vital to immune defense and widely used in biological research. Many key proteins have commercial antibodies available for overnight delivery.

In May, Reese Richardson, a post-doc at Northwestern University, found that some images showing antibody performance had been manipulated—alterations that would cause retraction in academic papers. Changes included removing background noise, copying data, and fabricating results.

He has now expanded his search and identified problematic manipulations in images used to market over 17,000 commercial antibodies. Antibodies work by recognizing specific proteins, which can be injected into animals to generate responses. These antibodies help locate proteins in cells, identify tissues, or analyze protein modifications.