Obokata agrees to retract one of two STAP stem cell papers in Nature: Reports

The Kyodo News service has reported that Haruko Obokata has agreed to retract one of the two Nature papers on an easy method of making stem cells. According to the report:

Stem cell researcher in Korea up to half a dozen retractions

Almost two years ago, we brought you — with the help of Trevor Stokes — the story of a stem cell researcher in Korea whose publication record, and career, unraveled after evidence of image manipulation surfaced in her work. We’ve reported on four retractions, all in Antioxidants & Redox Signaling, by Soo-Kyung Kang, formerly of Seoul … Continue reading Stem cell researcher in Korea up to half a dozen retractions

Fraud fells Alzheimer’s “made to order” neurons paper in Cell

In 2011, a group of researchers at Columbia University reported in Cell that they had been able to convert skin cells from patients with Alzheimer’s disease into functioning neurons — a finding that raised the exciting prospect of “made to order” brain cells for patients with the degenerative disease. As one researcher not involved with … Continue reading Fraud fells Alzheimer’s “made to order” neurons paper in Cell

Harvard-Brigham heart researcher under investigation earns Lancet Expression of Concern

On Tuesday, we broke the news of the retraction in Circulation of a paper on cardiac stem cells by a group of researchers being investigated by Harvard Medical School and the Brigham and Women’s Hospital. Today, The Lancet has issued an Expression of Concern about another paper led by Piero Anversa, the last author of … Continue reading Harvard-Brigham heart researcher under investigation earns Lancet Expression of Concern

Waseda University checking dissertations for plagiarism in wake of STAP stem cell misconduct finding

Waseda University in Japan says it will be vetting every doctoral dissertation it awards its graduate-level students in Advanced Science & Engineering* for signs of plagiarism, according to a report in the Japan News, a site of the Yomiuri Shimbun. The paper reports that:

RIKEN finds two “instances of research misconduct” in STAP stem cell work

Japan’s RIKEN research center has found misconduct in work that led to two controversial Nature papers, purporting to show an easy way to create stem cells, that have been dogged by criticism for months. Here’s an excerpt from today’s statement about “six items [RIKEN] has been investigating:”

Regenerative medicine, regenerative publishing

Developmental Biology has retracted a 2009 paper by an group of regenerative medicine specialists who, it seems, were regenerating more than just cells. The article, titled “The human placenta is a hematopoietic organ during the embryonic and fetal periods of development,” was led by Susan Fisher, of the Institute for Regenerative Medicine at the University … Continue reading Regenerative medicine, regenerative publishing

Authors of controversial STAP stem cell study author correct 2011 paper

There have been a number of developments in the unraveling of two Nature studies out of the RIKEN Institute in Japan and Harvard purporting to show an easy way to create stem cells. There was an interim report of RIKEN’s investigation last Friday, and more details emerged this week. And today, the Japan Times reported that last week, … Continue reading Authors of controversial STAP stem cell study author correct 2011 paper

Co-author of controversial acid STAP stem cell papers in Nature requests retraction: report

A co-author of two papers claiming to have shown how to create stem cells simply and easily has requested their retraction, the Wall Street Journal is reporting: