S.Korea university probing new stem cell doubts

SEOUL (Reuters) – One of South Korea’s top universities will step up an investigation into the country’s top stem-cell scientist after reports key parts of a landmark paper were fabricated, the university said on Friday.

Thursday’s reports brought to a head a controversy over work by Hwang Woo-suk, whose team at Seoul National University published the first scientific paper on cloning a human embryo in 2004 and this year displayed the world’s first cloned dog.

"Seoul National University will probe doubts raised about (Hwang’s) 2005 thesis first and, if the doubts are confirmed, will replicate experiments," the university said in a statement read at a news conference.

Hwang — who did not attend the news conference but may brief reporters at 0500 GMT — has been at the center of a media storm since November 24 when he apologized for two junior women researchers donating their eggs for his work and for not releasing information about the incident promptly.

Roe Jung-hye, the university’s dean of research affairs, told reporters the review team would send Hwang’s team a questionnaire on Monday and, if it cooperated with the investigation, a conclusion could be reached in one or two weeks. She said the reports had raised fresh doubts about Hwang’s work.