Times Online
2009-11-01
October 27, 2009 — Hwang Woo-suk’s research was supposed to be the harbinger of a medical revolution. In the space of 18 extraordinary months in 2004 and 2005, his team claimed to have created the first cloned human embryo, and then to have produced cloned embryonic stem (ES) cells, apparently paving the way for a new era of regenerative therapy.
His achievements seemed important because ES cells are the body’s master cells, with the ability to form every type of human tissue. If derived from clones of patients, they might be transplanted to treat conditions such as diabetes, Parkinson’s or paralysis without risk of rejection by the immune system. They would also provide powerful laboratory models for studying disease and developing new therapies.
The revelation that Hwang had faked his data, just six months after he published his most celebrated paper, thus appeared to be a body blow for stem cell research. Yet the field has since moved on in different and more exciting new directions.