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A picture of stem cells published in the journal Science that some
claim was fabricated. The image of stem cell no. 10 (right) matches the
upper part of stem cell no. 5. Prof. Hwang Woo-suk has blamed a
clerical error. |
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| Seoul National University
has decided to get to the bottom of controversy surrounding stem cell
research by cloning pioneer Prof. Hwang Woo-suk. SNU on Sunday said
Hwang telephoned Roe Jung-hye, the dean of SNU��s Office of Research
Affairs, to ask her for an investigation. An emergency meeting of the
university��s executive board accepted Hwang's request, with the scope
of the investigation and procedures to be announced at an 11 a.m. press
conference on Monday. The World Stem Cell Hub run by Hwang's team has decided to open
itself up to other domestic research teams, and it also pledged to push
ahead with a plan to clone 30 to 100 stem cells by the same method
Hwang laid out in a paper in Science in May, and provide them to other
interested researchers from next year.
Meanwhile, the New York Times quoted Arthur Levine, dean of the
University of Pittsburgh��s Medical School, as suggesting a
collaboration between his own university��s investigative team and the
SNU team. Pittsburgh launched an independent inquiry last week. Levine
said given that all pertinent data are in Seoul, Pittsburgh��s team
alone may not be in a position to investigate the matter fully. Hwang��s move shows a new determination by researchers to
confront head-on doubts cast on their research by the MBC investigative
program ��PD Diary,�� parts of the media and some academics.
On Saturday, the online newspaper Pressian published excerpts
from an interview between ��PD Diary�� journalists and a former member of
Hwang��s team. Choi Jin-yong, the head of MBC��s Current Affairs and
Documentaries Department confirmed the transcript of the interview with
Kim Sun-jong, the researcher now working at the University of
Pittsburgh, was accurate. In the recording, Kim says he took 11 pictures of only two
stem cells for submission to Science on instructions from Hwang. Kim
insinuates it is highly likely that nobody was aware of the fact except
for Hwang and his close collaborator Prof. Kang Sung-keun. MBC held an emergency meeting following publication. Since
there had been no decision whether to air the recordings the
broadcaster has admitted were obtained by strong-arm methods, the
meeting decided to wait and see.
([email protected] )
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