GESTIÓN EN SALUD PÚBLICA: BioEdge: Another stem cell fraud in Japan

BioEdge: Another stem cell fraud in Japan

Bioedge

Another stem cell fraud in Japan

by Michael Cook | 27 Jan 2018 |

Nobel Prize winner Shinya Yamanaka has been dragged into a case of stem cell research fraud in his laboratory. This week Kyoto University found that the lead author of a 2017 paper in Stem Cell Reports, Kohei Yamamizu, had fabricated all six main images, which were “pivotal in the conclusions the author drew”.

Yamamizu is an assistant professor in a research group led by Yamanaka at Kyoto University’s Center for iPS Cell Research and Application. There is no suggestion that Yamanaka was involved, but apparently he has even considered resigning from his position.

“[The fraud] is something that shakes the people’s trust in research activities and is extremely regrettable,” Japanese education minister Yoshimasa Hayashi told the media. “We would like to instruct Kyoto University to do its utmost to prevent a recurrence.”

It is unlikely that Yamanaka will be forced out. “Resignation doesn’t sound like the right thing to happen in this situation,” commented Alan Trounson, a leading stem cell scientist at the Hudson Institute of Medical Research in Melbourne.

The field of stem cell research has been marred by a series of spectacular examples of fabrication and falsification, from Korean researcher Hwang Woo-suk in 2004 to Japanese scientist Haruko Obokata in 2014.

Saturday, January 27, 2018

This week’s announcement by Chinese scientists that they had cloned macaque monkeys prompted a walk down memory lane for me. The scientists aver that they have no interest whatsoever in human cloning. One must take them at their word, I suppose, but the impulse to clone humans is a recurring lunacy.

Remember the Raelians? In 2002 Rael, the French-Canadian founder of the sect which believes that mankind was created by extraterrestrials and that cloning is a way to immortality, announced that his scientists had cloned a baby.

Remember Severino Antinori? The Italian gynaecologist announced that he had cloned babies in 2002. No proof was ever given. He is currently battling charges of kidnapping and forcibly removing eight eggs from a Spanish nurse.

Remember Hwang Woo-suk? The veterinary scientist claimed that he had cloned human embryos in 2004 and was featured on a South Korean stamp. Much of his work was fraudulent.

Remember Panayiotis Zavos? The Cypriot-American claimed in 2009 that he had implanted cloned 14 embryos and implanted them in four women. He has faded from the limelight in recent years.

I would wager that if the Chinese experiment is confirmed, there will be another wave of cloning attempts by rogue scientists. Watch this space.