Japan's esteemed research facility, Riken Institute, has been left red-faced after admitting that details of a supposedly groundbreaking stem cell study had in fact been falsified. The study's lead researcher-turned-overnight-celebrity Haruko Obokata is the focus of the debacle, after a co-author urged her and other researchers to retract the study last month.
Obokata is being held solely accountable for the transgression, though co-authors Yoshiki Sasai (also of Riken) and Teruhiko Wakayama of the University of Yamanashi are also carrying some responsibility for allowing the work to pass through the channels of checks and balances before being published by the science journal Nature. Wakayama was the whistleblower who first cast doubt on the study, saying that the findings couldn't be replicated in later attempts. He also pointed to inconsistencies in certain images and diagrams that appeared in the study - inconsistencies that are now believed to have been the result of Obokata using incorrect or inappropriate methods of displaying data. It's also thought that some of the images appeared exactly the same in her doctoral thesis, which used different modes of measurement to obtain results, meaning that the findings wouldn't necessarily hold true in the stem cell study.
The study was thought to be a game-changer for scientists manipulating stem cells, with the paper suggesting that these early cell from could be created by bathing mature cells from any part of the body in an acid solution and applying stress to them, thus causing the developed cells to retreat to their original form. Called "stimulus-triggered acquisition of pluripotency" or STAP cells, the easier method of creating stem cells was heralded as a breakthrough for treatment of debilitating conditions such as Alzheimer's.
Obokata is countering the allegations and will be filing an appeal to Riken's board. If the paper is again found to be riddled with inconsistencies, she would then need to formally retract it. Riken's disciplinary committee will then need to hand down some form of sanction to the young scientist, and possibly other members of the team.
The investigation into the validity of the study is ongoing, with Riken due to publish an interim report on their progress in four months. The Institute should reach a verdict in 12 months.
