With
the exception of a single cloned dog, all the major scientific
discoveries claimed by Woo Suk Hwang, once the world's leading stem
cell scientist, were faked, a university panel concluded today.
In
its final report on the research of Dr Hwang, who claimed to have
cloned the world's first human embryo in 2004 and then to have created
patient-specific stem cells in 2005, Seoul National University said
that South Korea's former "Top Scientist" had become a "scandalous
case".
"These individuals cannot be regarded to represent science in Korea," wrote Myung Hee Chung, the chairman of the panel.
Today's
report completed the ignominy of Dr Hwang, a national hero in South
Korea who was given free first class flights on Korean Air for a decade
and had a set of stamps commissioned to honour the achievements that
made him one of the world's most famous scientists.
Just
before Christmas, an interim report from the panel said that Dr Hwang
had fabricated the bulk of his claim to have produced 11 lines of
patient-specific stem cells last May. Dr Hwang's research, published in
the journal, Science, had promised a potentially revolutionary treatment for diabetes and Parkinson's disease.
Today
the panel also debunked Dr Hwang's claim, made in February 2004, to
have produced the first cloned human embryos for research. "Hwang’s
team did not have the data for the stem cell lines in the 2004 paper,
but fabricated it," the report said.
The only discovery
authenticated by the panel was Dr Hwang's creation of Snuppy, the
world's first cloned dog. Its name a blend of "Seoul National
University" and "puppy", Snuppy, an Afghan hound, was born in April
2005 after a normal, full-term pregnancy in a yellow Labrador surrogate
mother.
Dr Hwang, 52, resigned from South Korea's best known university on the same morning as the interim report was released.
He
was in hiding today when the panel confirmed its finding, saying:
"Professor Hwang’s team did not have patient-specific stem cell lines
and did not have any scientific basis that the team made them."
Dogs are notoriously difficult to clone, and Snuppy was hailed as proof of Dr Hwang's virtuoso technical ability. Time
magazine named it the "most amazing invention of 2005". But discussing
the animal today, Mr Chung called its creation "just a basic technique".
Instead,
the university panel concentrated on the possibly "severe" consequences
for Dr Hwang, who has received 40.5 billion won (�23 million) in
government funding, and tried to play down the damage he has caused the
Korea's budding bio-tech industry.
Dr Hwang's fabrications have
led to reports in the Korean press that he could be charged with
misappropriation of funds. Today prosecutors said they would study the
university's findings. "We will take over relevant evidence from the
Seoul National University and decide on who will take up this case,"
said Young Soo Park, an official at the prosecutor general’s office.
A
positive element of Dr Hwang's fall, according to the university, has
been the role of the young Korean researchers who questioned the
behaviour of their lead professor. In today's report, the panel said
"the young scientists who courageously pointed out the fallacy and
precipitated the initiation of this investigation are our hope for the
future".
"Our judgment is thus that the scandalous case of Woo
Suk Hwang and cloned ES cells will not have a large impact on the
effort of the scientific community in Korea. Rather, we are certain
that this learning experience will be a stepping stone for better
execution and management of scientific research and contribute to
scientific advancement in this country."
Dr Hwang was a veterinarian who became fascinated by cloning because he wanted to make healthier cows.
Doubts
about his methods and experiments started in early November, when a
respected American collaborator, Dr Gerald Schatten of the University
of Pittsburgh, ended his relationship with the scientist's new World
Stem Cell Hub citing ''ethical violations'' over the procuring of human
eggs for his research.
On November 24, Dr Hwang revealed that
some of the human eggs used in his research came from his researchers,
a breach of ethics that was criticised by colleagues but which was seen
to have little bearing on his discoveries.
More serious allegations followed when Dr Schatten wrote to Science in early December, asking that his name be removed from Dr Hwang's seminal article on patient-specific stem cells.
Dr
Schatten's doubts were echoed by Dr Hwang's former research partner, Dr
Roh Sung-il, who told Korean television that Dr Hwang had admitted to
him much of his research was fabricated. An investigation was launched
the following day.
