South Korea: germ cell research is fake!

Photos of Hwang Woo-suk germ cell researcher in magazines in a bookstore in Seoul (South Korea) on December 22

The famous Korean stem cell researcher Hwang Woo-suk reported false results of at least 9 of the 11 germ cell lines he claimed to have created.

Seoul National University, where he worked, said the result yesterday (December 23).

This is the university's first confirmation of allegations that Professor Hwang Woo-suk's stem cell research is fake.

In a May paper in Science, Professor Hwang claimed to have created 11 suitable stem cell lines for patients, an achievement that adds to the hope of creating many therapies for treating diseases. Nany. But a previous collaborator in his research group last week said 9 of these 11 stem cell lines were fake, causing the magazine and the university where Hwang to work to review and establish. a team investigating the incident.

In the report, the survey team said they found ' laboratory databases of 11 germ cell lines reported in the May report, all using the word database. two germ cells '.

Seoul National University said, in order to produce this fake DNA result, Professor Hwang's group divided germ cells from one patient into two test tubes for analysis, that is, in fact, these cells. only the same origin from a patient.

The investigation team said DNA tests are being conducted to verify the results of the investigation. The group also said they are investigating Prof. Hwang's other studies, including a study published in Science in 2004 about the world's first cloned embryo, and an article published in Nature. August 2005 about the first cloned dog. These newspapers are reviewing all of these studies.

Meanwhile, Professor Hwang still thinks that his research is correct and the test results will prove it.

However, he acknowledged last week 'fatal mistakes' in his May paper and asked Science to cancel the paper. He admitted that at the time of publishing this paper, his team had only created eight germ cell lines, but he said three more stem cell lines were created later.

The investigators said they had not found reports of two germ cell lines claimed by Professor Hwang. Four other germ cell lines have died due to infection and three other germ cell lines are still in the nourishment stage and have not been shown to become complete germ cells.

Currently, the Seoul University investigation team has not made any move for Professor Hwang before these findings.

WALL VY