Hwang Resigns From Stem Cell Hub

Hwang Resigns From Stem Cell Hub

Well, I said I wasn’t going to blog any more today but this is worth it…
Dr. Hwang Woo-Suk is resigning from the World Stem Cell Hub that he was instrumental in founding after admitting that some of the ova he received in his human cloning research came from members of his research team. He is resigning from all other official posts he holds as well.

The story is covered by Forbes, by the Chinese newspaper Xinhua, by the San Jose Mercury News (an AP wire story), by ABC News (Reuters story), and by Bloomberg, among others. Hwang apologized for the scandal. He did not know the eggs had been donated by women on his research team until after the fact.

I’m glad he stepped down, but I hope that people can see past his personal shortcomings and not let them taint the research he has done. From a purely biological standpoint (if such a thing exists), the results are unchanged. I also hope that this generates meaningful and useful discussion about egg donation instead of shutting it down.