The opener of STAP cells is not left alone
The infamous Japanese scientist will have his degree revoked
Ksenia Naka, RIA Novosti
Waseda University in Japan will revoke the doctoral degree from Haruka Obokata, who became infamous after fakes were revealed in her sensational work on stem STAP cells, the Kyodo news agency reported.
Obokata defended her doctoral dissertation at Waseda University, and then continued stem cell research at Harvard University and the Japanese RIKEN Research Institute. In January last year, she published a sensational article in the journal Nature about the discovery of a method for converting ordinary cells into stem cells without interfering with their genetic code by exposing them to acid.
However, then numerous frauds were revealed in this study, after which the article from Nature was withdrawn, and Obokata herself was fired from RIKEN, as she could not repeat the results of her discovery. Other scientists also failed to do this. In August last year, the co-author of the study, one of the leading scientists of the RIKEN Institute, 52-year-old Yoshiki Sasai committed suicide. A commission appointed by the institute to investigate the circumstances of the scandalous study suggested that the "sensational" discovery was made by adding, perhaps intentionally, long-known embryonic cells during the experiment.
Waseda University re-examined Obokata's doctoral dissertation last October and also revealed a number of questionable evidence. Obokata was asked to redo the work within a year, but she was unable to do so. Her request to extend the time required to correct the work was not granted.
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30.10.2015