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A mercurial former U.S. collaborator of cloning pioneer Prof. Hwang
Woo-suk has withdrawn his name as co-author from a stem cell research
paper published earlier this year that has come under increasing fire
for its accuracy. Prof. Gerald Schatten of the University of Pittsburgh
said Tuesday he is asking the journal Science to take him off the list
of authors of the paper published in May. Observers say Schatten is
trying to put clear blue water between himself and the ongoing
controversy but may have attracted more publicity with the unusual
move. In an e-mail to co-authors on Tuesday, Schatten said he had asked
Science to strike him from the list of authors of the article on stem
cells tailored to match patients¡¯ DNA. Schatten said he received documents last week from ¡°someone¡±
involved in the research that suggests results were fabricated. After
carefully reviewing pictures and the data in the article in light of
the new information, the geneticist said he began to have doubts over
the accuracy of the paper. Schatten did not say whether the ¡°someone¡±
was Korean. Schatten has been hard to pin down in the controversy
surrounding Hwang¡¯s article. He publicly severed relations with Hwang
over ethical concerns last month but later voiced his support for
Hwang. On Saturday, Schatten reportedly told a core member of Hwang¡¯s
research team by phone he was ¡°300 percent¡± sure that the Science paper
was authentic.
(englishnews@chosun.com )
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