South Korean scientist Hwang Woo-suk's and his team's pioneering papers on cloning human embryos and stem cells were faked, a university panel says. Experts from Seoul National University said no data supported the claims. The panel, which last month rejected other stem cell research by Dr Hwang, has accepted he had created the world's first cloned dog.
Dr Hwang admitted errors, but says his work was sabotaged. State prosecutors are now expected to look into the case.
The BBC correspondent in Seoul says the conclusion of the university's investigation completes the disgrace of Dr Hwang, who was South Korea's most celebrated scientist.
No proof
Dr Hwang claimed in a paper published in 2004 in the US journal Science that he and his team of researchers produced a stem cell from a cloned human embryo in what was judged to be a major scientific breakthrough.
His research seemed to promised possible cures for a range of diseases.
"The stem cell number one which was documented in the 2004 Science paper was not a stem cell originated from a cloned human embryo," said a statement issued by the nine-member panel who had spent a month examining Dr Hwang's work.
His team "did not have any proof to show that cloned embryonic stem cells were ever created," the panel's report said.
It has not said what sanctions will be imposed on Dr Hwang, but the panel said "the penalty has to be severe".
Dr Hwang said he would resign from the university after the first report was issued last month, but he has yet to do so.
Dog was cloned
Doubts about Dr Hwang's claims first appeared last year.
The university had published an interim report in December which said Dr Hwang had fabricated another report.
The university panel said it could not find any of the 11 stem cell lines matched to patients by Dr Hwang.
The experts did rule last year's experiment where a dog was cloned was genuine, however.
The copy of a three-year-old afgan hound, called Snuppy, was genetically identical to his father according to DNA tests, the panel said.
"It was confirmed that Snuppy was a cloned dog," the panel said.