PressTV... Chief researcher in a stem cell study, which before being discredited was thought to have revolutionized the field, has committed suicide. "Deputy directory of the Developmental Biology Center Yoshiki Sasai was found with something that seemed to be a will. After that he was taken to the Kobe City Medical Center hospital but was pronounced dead at 11:03AM," Riken's director of public relations, Satoru Kagaya told journalists.
As deputy director of Riken's Center for Developmental Biology, Sasai supervised the work of lead author Haruko Obokata.
The work kicked up much commotion in scientific circles by alleging discovery of a method involving transformation of ordinary mouse cells into versatile stem cells by exposing them to a mildly acidic environment.
Last month, however, British journal Nature released a retraction from Obokata.
The retraction stated, "These multiple errors impair the credibility of the study as a whole and we are unable to say without doubt whether the stimulus-triggered acquisition of pluri¬potency stem cells phenomenon is real.
"Ongoing studies are investigating this phenomenon afresh, but given the extensive nature of the errors currently found we consider it appropriate to retract both papers."
The journal said, although, editors and referees could not have detected the fatal faults in this work, the episode has further highlighted flaws in Nature's procedures and in the procedures of institutions that publish with us.
HN/HN Comments croissant I bet you that this research is a ground-breaking discovery, and represents such a revolution in medical science, that it had to be discredited, even going as far as to kill it's proponents, in order to hide this most unprofitable advance in human knowledge.