Expert's cells 'don't exist'
2006-01-25 11:02
Seoul - South Korean prosecutors said on Thursday that disgraced cloning expert Hwang Woo-Suk had created no patient-specific stem cells, confirming the findings of an academic probe.
Prosecutors probing Hwang said that they had carried out DNA testing of stem-cell samples seized from an infertility clinic conducting research for the South Korean scientist.
None of the cells were found to match those that Hwang claimed he had created in a landmark paper published in US journal Science in 2005.
"The DNA test conducted by the Prosecutor General's Office forensic team produced the same results as those of the Seoul National University," a prosecutor told journalists on condition of anonymity.
An investigative panel of Seoul National University where Hwang, 52, worked as a professor and conducted most of his research, said last month that Hwang faked the 2005 paper in which he said he had produced the world's first patient-tailored stem cells.
Hwang stunned medical experts in 2005 when he claimed he had created 11 patient-specific stem cell lines. The previous year he said he had derived stem cells from a human embryo, another world first.
Stem cells are master cells that have the potential to develop into any organ of the body.
Scientists believe they can be used to fight a range of diseases including cancer, diabetes and Alzheimer's that are currently hard to treat.
Hwang's claim in 2005 to have produced stem cells specific to individual patients was considered a breakthrough because of its perceived benefit for regenerative medicine by reducing the risk of rejection of new organs.