SNU Academics Seek Verification of Hwang Research MBC Union Unrepentant Over Hwang Expose Hwang Team Pre-Empts SNU Bid to Verify Research Cloning Pioneer Visits Lab From Hospital Top Geneticists Call on Hwang to Help Confirm Findings Hwang Defends Stem Cell Research U.S. Scientist Withdraws Name From Hwang Paper Hwang Scandal Splashed Across Global Front Pages SNU Sets Up Panel to Check Hwang Research Stem Cells Don’t Exist: Hwang Associate What Went Wrong in the Hwang Affair? Researcher Says Hwang Stem Cell Research Accurate Hwang Grilled as SNU Inquiry Gets Under Way Fresh Mixup Casts Doubt on Cloning Pioneer’s Research Widening SNU Probe Seals Off Hwang’s Lab SNU Panel 'Close' to Finding if Hwang's Stem Cells Exist Schatten Requested US$200,000 for 'Effort' MBC Producer, Hospital Chief Grilled in Hwang Probe

The Biological Research Information Center of Korea (BRIC) argues on its websites that a photograph of stem cells accompanying a 2004 paper by Hwang is identical to one illustrating an article on stem cell cultivation from fertilized embryos written by Kim Sun-jong and MizMedi Hospital research staff, which was published in Stemcells magazine in November 2004.

Kim is a former member of Hwang’s stem cell research team, and the head of MizMedi Hospital is a former collaborator whose name appeared right next to Hwang’s on the May 2005 paper. BRIC claims Hwang took a picture of the same stem cell from a different angle. Hwang’s 2004 paper serves as the basis for the Science article on patient-specific stem cells.

BRIC scientists also point out problems with DNA fingerprints and the timing of stem cell cultivation, quoting Hwang as saying on June 7, 2004 that only two cell clusters survived an unexpected blackout in his lab in the fall of 2003, although he posted the 2004 paper in December 2003.

That was not enough time to cultivate stem cells from the two remaining clusters, the scientists say, since stem cells take at least three months to cultivate. The overseas press has also raised suspicions about the DNA fingerprints in the 2004 paper.

Doubts are also spreading to what is ostensibly the world’s first cloned dog Snuppy. Japan’s Yomiuri Shimbun on Monday quoted geneticist Robert Lanza as saying he had proof of scientific errors in Hwang’s paper on the cloning of the dog. Lanza proposed comparing the original dog with the clone to confirm Hwang’s claim.

Lanza is one of eight international scientists who recently wrote to Science urging Hwang to help verify research results. A professional rival, he works with bioengineering company Advanced Cell Technology. A BRIC member said there were no DNA fingerprints in Hwang’s paper showing that the original and cloned dogs were genetically identical.

The avalanche unleashed by Hwang’s admission on Friday also threatens to sweep away the cow Youngrongi, which Hwang claims to have cloned. Scientists now point out that the cow is said to have been healthy and given birth to a calf since it was born in 1999. But cloned animals are weaker than ordinary ones, and most are short-lived and lack the ability to reproduce, they said. Hwang published no paper on Youngrongi.

(englishnews@chosun.com )