Researcher faked cloning results

SEOUL, South Korea – The now-disgraced South Korean researcher who stunned the scientific community with his claim to have cloned human embryonic stem cells faked his results, relying on “fabricated data,” his university said today.

The latest revelation doomed Hwang Woo-suk’s reputation as a cloning pioneer, already tainted by the finding that the veterinarian’s claim in 2005 to have developed 11 patient-specific stem cell lines was false.

Hwang “did not have any proof to show that cloned embryonic stem cells were ever created,” an investigating panel at Seoul National University said in a report today, disputing claims in Hwang’s 2004 paper in the journal Science purporting that he cloned a human embryo and extracted stem cells from it.

The panel found that Hwang’s claims last year to have created the world’s first cloned dog, however, were genuine.

Creating stem cells genetically matched to a specific patient would be a breakthrough because they would not be rejected by the patient’s immune systems. But despite years of research, Hwang was the only person to claim success in extracting the cells from an embryo.

“The 2004 paper was written on fabricated data to show that the stem cells match the DNA of the provider although they didn’t,” the report said.