Cloning pioneer questioned

2005-12-19 08:41

Seoul - Investigators on Sunday began questioning South Korean cloning pioneer Hwang Woo-Suk and members of his research team amid allegations that he may have faked his landmark stem cell research, officials said.

An investigation committee, launched two days ago by Seoul National University where he teaches, said its members visited Hwang's laboratory and began interviewing Hwang and his researchers.

"Interviews with researchers and professors began at 01:00 GMT on Sunday, with access to the laboratories of Hwang's research team limited," the committee said.

The panel said access to the laboratories was limited to "speedily secure relevant materials" and research data for its closed-door investigation.

A tight-lipped Hwang showed no emotion when he arrived at the university's veterinary school for the questioning for which some 20 researchers on his team were also called in, according to Yonhap news agency.

Hwang, once a national hero, was accused by one of his collaborators on Thursday of faking his research on the production of patient-specific stem cells.

Roh Sung-Il, a fertility expert who co-authored Hwang's study published by Science, said the patient-specific stem cell colonies never existed.

But Hwang Friday rejected the charges, saying he had cloned 11 human embryos and cultivated patient-specific stem cell lines from them and his new tests would validate the research in 10 days.

Hwang also invited a prosecution probe, saying he suspected that his patient-specific stem cells had been "swopped" and replaced with ordinary stem cells from the fertility clinic run by Roh.

Though Hwang stood by his research, he said he had requested Science to retract his research paper due to "irretrievable mistakes in the photography" that accompanied his paper.

Stem cells refer to master cells that experts say can develop into any organ and some day may help fight cancer and other hard-to-treat diseases such as Alzheimer's, Parkinson's and diabetes.

Hwang had stunned the world several times in recent years with his groundbreaking work that included cloning of the first human embryo to produce stem cells in 2004.

His breakthrough research on stem cell lines published in June 2005, was followed by the creation of the first cloned dog, Snuppy, in August.

- AFP