LIVERPOOL University academic Professor Alirio Melendez has been suspended amid allegations he faked scientific research.

The Daily Post can reveal Professor Alirio Melendez – a renowned immunisation and infection expert – has been asked to stay away while the university probes what they termed “an allegation of research misconduct”.

The investigation surrounding the Professor, based at the university’s department of molecular and clinical pharmacology, was sparked by an anonymous email and relates to published papers authored by Prof Melendez and a team of collaborators.

The University of Liverpool confirmed the academic, an employee since August, 2010, had been suspended amid a claim “data in papers published in a number of scientific journals were manipulated or copied from other work”.

The university stressed the allegations relate to research he carried out before he joined the institution.

And last night his former employers, the National University of Singapore (NUS), where he worked from 2001 until 2009, confirmed it had launched its own “thorough investigation” into the claims surrounding Dr Melendez and his co-authors. As part of its probe, it says it is examining 70 of its publications authored by Dr Melendez.

The University of Liverpool’s investigation has focused on a paper referring to the treatment of blood infections in science journal Nature Immunology.