Search is Powered by Google
Follow us on:
Follow our health news on Twitter
Follow Our News on Facebook
Personalization
login | register
Stem Cell Research News

Woo Suk Hwang, Who Faked Research, Made Spectacular Breakthrough

rate icon Editor's Choice
Main Category: Stem Cell Research
Also Included In: Biology / Biochemistry
Article Date: 03 Aug 2007 - 10:00 PDT

email icon email to a friend   printer icon printer friendly   write icon view / write opinions   rate icon rate article
Current Article Ratings:

Patient / Public:5 stars

4.76 (38 votes)

Health Professional:4 and a half stars

4.4 (15 votes)

Article Opinions: 0 posts

It has emerged that Woo Suk Hwang, the South Korean scientist who was named and shamed for faking his research, made an amazing breakthrough. According to Cell Stem Cell, he may have managed to create stem cells solely from human eggs, without fertilization with sperm. This breakthrough is possibly much more valuable than his original false claims about his work.

Hwang's work at Seoul National University was famous worldwide - he became a national hero and possibly the most esteemed stem cell scientist in the world. In 2005, his status came crumbling down when it was revealed he had faked much of his claims. He had said that he and his team created cloned human embryos by putting a cell's nucleus into an empty human egg, and then used the stem cells for those embryos. It was later found that the embryos had originated from the eggs of female members of his laboratory team - in other words, not from cloned embryos. He was fired and then charged with fraud and misappropriation of funds (embezzlement).

Recently, researchers from Harvard Stem Cell Institute, led by Dr George Daley, examined his research again and determined that the cells came from a another type of embryo. The scientists say it is well possible that Hwang and team had managed to pull off the world's first human case of parthenogenesis, or 'virgin birth'.

(Parthenogenesis = When an egg is stimulated into becoming an embryo without sperm fertilization taking place.)

Parthenogenesis has been done with animals, but never with humans where the embryo survived long enough to get viable stem cells from it.

Dr George Daley told the BBC "Unfortunately at the time they published their work they did not know what they had done so they had mistakenly isolated these parthenogenic embryonic stem cells, and yet misrepresented them as true clones. In fact they had produced the world's first patient-specific embryonic stem cell, and that is very valuable. Scientists interested in modelling complex diseases would like to be able to move a patient's own cells into a petri dish in their embryonic form."

Discredited Korean embryonic stem cells' true origins revealed
Harvard News Office
Click here to view article online

http://www.cellstemcell.com

Written by: Christian Nordqvist
Copyright: Medical News Today
Not to be reproduced without permission of Medical News Today




Personalized Homepage Weekly Newsletters Daily News Alerts
Hemophilia Opioid Induced Constipation Pneumococcal Disease ADHD Anxiety Asthma Atrial Fibrillation Autism Cancer Diabetes Lung Cancer Lupus Medicare / Medicaid Obesity and BMI Pancreatic Cancer Stem Cells All 'What Is...' Articles

Ophthalmology Urology
About Us News Licensing Free Website Feeds Free Tools & Content Tell a Friend Accessibility Help / FAQ Article Submission Links Contact Us

add medical news today to your facebook
medical news gadget

Please fill in our survey

Swine Flu Image

Swine Flu Updates

- Latest Swine Flu News
- What is Swine Flu?
- Map Of H1N1 Outbreaks
- Swine Flu - Top 20 FAQ
- Daily Email News Alerts
Stick with Medical News Today for the latest news updates on swine flu.


These are the most read articles from this news category for the last 6 months:
Top Article Star
Scientists Make Human Sperm From Embryonic Stem Cells
08 Jul 2009
UK scientists have announced this week that they have found a way to make human sperm from embryonic stem cells in a laboratory, a breakthrough that they hope will help us better understand the causes of infertility...


When Clutter Takes Over Your Life
When Clutter Takes Over Your Life

Clutter had taken over Cora's life. Working with a professional organizer and finding out what's beneath the clutter is helping her get her life back.

more videos are available in our health videos section.