stemceller's Journal: Within Discredited Stem Cell Research, a Scientific First

The

New York Times

reports on a potential ground-breaking advance in creating embryonic-like stem cells without using embryos: "The world of stem cell research was set reeling two years ago when its most successful practitioner, the Korean scientist Hwang Woo Suk, was found to have fabricated much of his work. But according to a new post-mortem of his research, he did achieve a scientific first, though not the one he claimed." "Dr. Hwang said he had derived embryonic stem cells from the adult cells of a patient, but the claim was discredited after parts of his research were found to have been faked. A team of Boston scientists has now re-examined stocks of Dr. Hwang's purported embryonic stem cells and arrived at a surprising conclusion: His embryonic stem cells were the product of parthenogenesis, or virgin birth, meaning they were derived from an unfertilized egg." "A team led by Kitai Kim and George Q. Daley of Children's Hospital Boston reports this conclusion today in the journal Cell Stem Cell."