Dec. 20, 2014

Government-backed Japanese institute Riken accepts resignation of Haruko Obokata, one of its highest-profile scientists, after she fails to replicate research results that were once hailed as breakthrough in stem cell research. MORE

Experimental stem cell procedures, once talked about but not put into practice, are starting to be used in trial settings; as many as 4,500 clinical trials involving stem cells are under way in United States to treat patients with conditions such as heart disease, blindness, Parkinson's and spinal cord injury; enthusiasm for such procedures, however, sometimes outstrips supporting science. MORE

Colleagues of Yoshiki Sasai, leading Japanese life science researcher, say he has taken his own life; Sasai was co-author of discredited stem cell study published in journal Nature that was retracted due to factual errors and allegations of misconduct. MORE

Journal Nature retracts two scientific papers it published that initially electrified biologists by describing easy way to make stem cells; says papers were error-filled and had not been verified by anyone else. MORE

Op-Ed article by evolutionary geneticist Svante Paabo warns against using sequenced genomes of Neanderthals to re-create Neanderthal individuals; contends from an ethical perspective such an idea should be condemned, and argues that using stem cells to create cells and tissues in test tubes for research is far more ethically defensible and technically feasible. MORE

Scientists, reporting in journal Cell Stem Cell, move step closer to goal of creating stem cells perfectly matched to a patients DNA in order to treat diseases; say they have created patient-specific cell lines for 'therapeutic cloning' out of skin cells of two adult men. MORE

Japanese research institute concludes that study published in journal Nature that was once hailed as breakthrough in creating stem cells contains fabricated and doctored images that cast doubt on its findings; singles out study's lead author Haruko Obokata, stem cell biologist, saying she had altered or misrepresented illustrations in her research papers. MORE

Japanese research institute acknowledges that study billed as breakthrough in stem cell research contained spliced image, material recycled from lead author's doctoral thesis, and other mistakes; disclosure threatens to discredit newly acclaimed researcher Haruko Obokata, whose team found that simple acid bath might turn cells in the body into stem cells; findings appeared in journal Nature. MORE

Teruhiko Wakayama, one of the authors of startling study that claimed to have found a simple way to make stem cells, says he is no longer sure of its conclusions; calls for its retraction. MORE

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