At the height of the great Embryonic Stem Cell Hype, Hwang Woo-suk fraudulently claimed to have created human cloned embryos and derived stem cells therefrom. He paid a price in reputation but not his freedom, despite obtaining research grants under false pretenses. Now, another Korean stem cell scientist stands accused of falsifying research reports. From the Korea Times story:
A stem cell researcher at Seoul National University (SNU) is suspected of fabricating 14 studies submitted to international scientific journals for publication, the school said Monday. The misconduct of the researcher, if proven to be true, could deal a severe blow to the nation’s efforts to revive its reputation as a world leader in stem cell research following data manipulation in 2005 by then SNU professor Hwang Woo-suk...
Kang admitted using inaccurate information when the journal requested verification. “In response to allegations brought forth by a reader of this Journal, I take full responsibility as corresponding author and accept that some of the data presented is not accurate. I retract the publication in its entirety from scientific literature,” he said in a statement. The professor also admitted using false information in two other studies that were about to be published by the ARS.
But, as with Hwang before him, Kang claims that his enemies are the real wrongdoers:
Kang has built his reputation as a stem-cell researcher, and now believes that he has fallen victim to a “malicious scheme.” “About 80 percent of the evidence used against me is false, and I believe we have to consider some malicious intentions involved in this case,” the professor said.
No, falsifying science is the real malice. Off with his head (he said figuratively)!
