For months now, the N&O has been writing about the curious case of Anil Potti, the now-disgraced cancer researcher whose work at Duke has come under serious scrutiny within his profession.

Potti left Duke in November following revelations that he padded his resume and published findings now being retracted.

In today's paper, reporter Sarah Avery introduces you to Joyce Shoffner of Raleigh, who was enrolled in one of Potti's clinical trials and is less than enthused by how the university has handled it.

Shoffner provides a human face to this ongoing saga. She says treatment she received through Potti's clinical trial complicated her medical situation.

There's a new twist today in the ongoing saga surrounding Anil Potti, the Duke cancer researcher who falsely claimed to be a Rhodes Scholar and may have manipulated scientific data.

One of his collaborators is now requesting a retraction of their work published in a major scientific journal - a significant blow to both Duke and its lab.

Joseph Nevins, a professor and director of Duke's Center for Applied Genomics and Technology, sent a letter to the editors of the Journal of Clinical Oncology, a leading publisher of scientific findings in cancer research, calling for a full retraction of work he and Potti submitted in 2007.

Efforts to reach the journal editors are underway.

The work, which claims to establish a genetic basis for predicting which cancer patients will respond best to different treatments, has been questioned for at least a year, when scientists elsewhere tried to reproduce it and could not. In addition, the other scientists found numerous errors, requiring published corrections.

Potti was placed on leave earlier this year after questions arose about claims he made on federal grant applications.

Duke subsequently halted three clinical trials he was involved in after questions about their legitimacy arose.

And the journal Lancet launched an inquiry into the findings of a Potti study it published in 2007.

Duke has suspended three clinical trials related to the work of Anil Potti, the researcher who apparently claimed, falsely, to have been a Rhodes Scholar on applications for federal grant funding.

The clinical trials all involved cancer treatment, and many of the enrolled patients were from the Triangle area.

The work Potti has done on genetic tests that might predict certain cancers has been called into question before; since the revelation about Potti's false Rhodes claim, Duke is re-examining the science.

The Rhodes issue emerged first in The Cancer Letter, a newsletter that reports on cancer issues. Last week, it published an exhaustive look at Potti's Rhodes claim and questions related to his research.

In my reporting for this story about a Duke researcher who appeared to lie on applications for federal grant funding, I sent queries to the Rhodes Trust.

The trust runs the Rhodes Scholars program, and would be the final word on whether Duke cancer researcher Anil Potti had, in fact, won one of the coveted scholarships, as he claimed at various times. Notations on some of his applications suggested he was an Australian winner of the scholarship.

I didn't hear back Friday. But Elliot Gerson, American Secretary with the Rhodes Trust, did get back to me today.

His response pretty much tells the tale.

He wrote: "He is not a Rhodes Scholar, from the US, Australia, or anywhere else."

A Duke doctor is in some serious trouble over an apparent false claim on an application for federal grant funding.

At various times, Duke cancer researcher Anil Potti claimed to be a Rhodes Scholar.

That is not true, and now at least one federal agency has cut off funding to his research project and other revenue streams may be in doubt.

Here's the story.