There were tears and hugs on Monday morning when cloning pioneer Prof.
Hwang Woo-suk briefly returned to work after an 18-day absence as word
came that Seoul National University, where he works, will seek to
verify the scientist¡¯s stem cell research independently. Hwang was
discharged from SNU Hospital after being treated for exhaustion but was
readmitted in the evening on the advice of his doctors. Some 30
colleagues earlier welcomed him back to work.
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Stem cell pioneer Hwang Woo-suk shakes hands with his fellow
researchers as he returns to his office at Seoul National University¡¯s
Veterinary College on Monday morning. |
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Hwang¡¯s research team faces allegations that some of the 11 pictures of
stem cells published with a research paper in May overlap. Others say
the team fabricated the DNA fingerprints for the cells, that no stem
cells exist at all, or that Hwang ordered a researcher to falsify the
numbers of stem cells 2 to 11 in the pictures. SNU will set up a fact-finding panel of 10 experts to look at Hwang¡¯s research results.
If Hwang is cleared, observers say, it will be bad news for
broadcaster MBC and several online newspapers where the charges have
been raised. If the inquiry finds lapses or errors in documentation but
confirms that the scientists did tailor stem cells to individual
patients, it would inevitable raise criticism on ethical grounds. The
damage to Korean bioengineering if all results turn out to be
fabricated would be immeasurable.
Meanwhile, controversy over suspicions that Hwang and his team
fabricated research results and Hwang¡¯s subsequent absence from the lab
with exhaustion have done considerable damage to the progress of
research, team members said Monday. Failure to replace feeder cells -- which is crucial to the
survival of stem cells -- on time several times endangered cloned stem
cells designed to match patients¡¯ DNA in the lab at Seoul National
University¡¯s Veterinary College, a team member said. ¡°Usually it was
Hwang who decided whether to replace feeder cells or to divide
overgrown stem cells and move them to another petri dish,¡± team member
Prof. Lee Byung-cheon said. Another source said the stem cells were
created after Hwang's paper on the project was published in May, and it
was the emergency at the lab that prompted Hwang¡¯s return to work on
Monday.
(englishnews@chosun.com )
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