Stem Cell Paper Retracted

Stem Cell Paper Retracted

Just a blip on the continuing story of South Korea. The journal “Stem Cells” has retracted a paper published in 2004 that was co-authored by Sun Jong Kim and eight other South Korean researchers. According to the press release about the retraction, the journal editors have looked at the evidence of fraud in the South Korean research and have concluded that the claims in this paper do not meet standards of credibility. The paper included the duplicative/mislabeled photographs that were the first sign of a problem in the now notorious research papers by Hwang Woo-suk. See: STEM CELLS "Expression of Concern" by Curt I. Civin, M.D., and a statement of the editorial retraction at http://stemcells.alphamedpress.org/misc/editors.shtml.
Website: http://www.StemCells.com

The story has also been picked up by a few media sources. The Korea Times reports that the authors of the paper acknowledged the errors with the photographs and submitted new ones. The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reports that the two lead authors, Kim Sun-jong and Park Jong-hyuk, were former associates of Gerald Schatten. They are no longer at the University of Pittsburgh. Papers in several other journals by these researchers are now under investigation. It reports that the November 2004 Stem Cells paper was important because it purported to advance the ability to cultivate human embryonic stem cells and freeze them, while retaining their full viability. The journal sent a letter to
Roh Sung-il, one of the writers and the chair of Mizmedi Hospital, where eggs were obtained, without response and followed up with subsequent letters. By the time they got a response, the investigation was underway.

Meanwhile, the Korea Times reports that a Korean television station has reported that Kim Sun-jong fabricated stem cell lines without the knowledge of Hwang. The prosecution will not officially announce this until after consulting with scientists. The fraud investigation is still under way.