Japan lab says stem cell research falsified

The finding that a lead researcher falsified data in a widely heralded stem-cell research paper is a setback for Japan's efforts to promote its advanced research, but also a symptom of the pressure for breakthroughs in the field, experts say.
The government-funded Riken Center for Development Biology in Kobe, western Japan said yesterday it had found malpractice by scientist Haruko Obokata in the work on using a simple lab procedure to grow tissue for treating illnesses such as diabetes and Parkinson's disease.
Obokata disputed the allegations, saying in a statement issued by Riken that she plans to appeal the findings issued by a committee set up to investigate discrepancies in the research published in January in the scientific journal Nature.

Nature has refused comment on whether the article might be retracted but said it is conducting its own evaluation and considering Riken's findings.
While Obokata alone was blamed for manipulating images of DNA fragments used in the research, Riken's director Ryoji Noyori held her co-authors "gravely responsible" for negligence in failing to fully verify their findings.
"The Riken incident says much more about the pressures to publish, and the harsh competition in stem cell research, than it does about Japan, I think," Ivan Oransky, global editorial director of MedPage Today, a news service for doctors, said in an email.

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has made greater gender equality and female advancement in the workforce a plank of his economic revival strategy for Japan. But the recognition of Obokata, a fashionable young woman, as a leading scientist still made waves in conservative, male-dominated Japan.

The developments at Riken are a setback for government efforts to market Japan's research and development expertise as a 21st century industry needed to revitalize the country's manufacturing.
Arthur Caplan, an expert on bioethics at New York University Langone Medical Center, said the doubts about the research are a "devastating blow" for Japanese science.
"The government has invested in cutting edge bioscience to promote Japan's economy, so the revelation of fraud and misconduct at a major institute is both an embarrassment for the government and a huge setback for the Japanese research community," he said.