Disgraced scientists suspended
2006-02-10 10:17
Seoul - South Korea's top university on Friday suspended cloning expert Hwang Woo-Suk and six other professors who helped him fabricate stem cell research, school authorities said.
The university's disciplinary commission will decide soon whether the disgraced scientist and his colleagues should be expelled from the university for good, said Byun.
"They are immediately banned from teaching and engaging in research," said Byun Chang-Ku, dean of academic affairs at Seoul National University.
"The disciplinary committee is still following procedures to punish them. It is looking into their misconduct in research and their breach of ethical standards."
Hwang, 52, was a national hero in South Korea after he stunned the scientific world in 2005 with a claim to have created 11 patient-specific stem cell lines in a major breakthrough for medical research.
In 2004 he claimed to have derived a stem cell from a cloned embryo, another world first.
Firing carries automatic ban
But a panel of experts at the university said last month that both claims were bogus and that Hwang had falsified data in his research papers, which were published to international acclaim.
An academic official at the university said Hwang's firing would carry an automatic ban from government-funded teaching and research for up to five years.
Hwang, a senior professor at the university's department of veterinary science, offered to resign in December when his ethical standards and research methods were called into question.
But the university pushed ahead with an investigation by its disciplinary committee.
Hwang is also under criminal investigation over his fraudulent research and has already admitted misusing part of the millions of dollars in research grants showered on him by the government.
State auditors said this week that Hwang had confessed to making donations to politicians and had failed to account for 6.2bn won ($6.4m) in research funding.
Hwang's team received a total of 37bn won in research funds over the past five years and spent 25bn won.
More damaging statements
Prosecutors on Friday summoned five co-authors of Hwang's key research papers to question them on their role in the fabrication of data produced in the 2004 and 2005 documents, news reports said.
Auditors said Hwang's accounting practices were below standard and he kept millions of dollars in donations in nine personal bank accounts from which he withdrew cash.
In a series of additional damaging revelations last week, a state bioethics committee said two junior researchers working for Hwang were forced to give their own eggs for his work.
Hwang has admitted receiving eggs from junior researchers in breach of accepted international ethical standards, but has denied forcing his staff to contribute eggs to his now discredited research.