Break-through not realized in time

Aug 04: Hwang Woo Suk’s name soared in the sky after he claimed of deriving first embryonic stem cells from adult cell, but soon it got crushed after his research was found to be fabricated.

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The report, which was published in the journal Science was retracted back after the data supporting articles was investigated to be fake.

After Hwang admitted that there was an error in the paper published in the magazine Science, the national hero was made to step down as the Head of Stem Cell Program at Seoul National University.

Stem cells which have a potential to grow into any type of cells in the body is a hope for millions of people suffering from cancer and other lethal diseases. Stem cells are Totipotent type that can differentiate into any kind of cells, Pluripotent cell can develop into various kinds of cells of the body but not all like totipotent, Multipotent stem cells can be differentiated into limited range of cell types which are found in already developed tissue like blood, nerve cell etc,while unipotent cell produce only one type of cell but have the properties of self renewal. The process of extracting stem cells from either aborted fetuses or from the embryo in vitro fertilization is controversial.

Recently Hwang Woo Suk was in news for re examination of the stem cell, which was actually different from the one, he has claimed. Wang’s stock of stem cells was found to be product of parthenogenesis, which is the development of an embryo without fertilization, by male. It is found in plant, lower vertebrate and some vertebrate like reptiles. Development of stem cells from parthenogenesis has been achieved only in animal not in human being. This asexal method does not attract bioethics concerns.

This was reported in the ‘Cell Stem Cell’ journal based on a research led by Kitai Kim and George Q Daley of Children’s Hospital Of Boston who says that if Hwang and his team would have identified that the one, which they have stocked, is nothing but parthenogenetic stem cells it would have been very exciting.

Researchers are trying to know the biology of stem cells to figure out the various developmental stages of its proliferation so that it can be used to treat Neurological Disorders, Ailments related to Heart, Diabeties, and Leukemia etc. The postmortem of Hwang’s research has shown that the stem cells were formed from unfertilized egg, which happens in the case of parthenogenesis. But the realization of this breakthrough is not in time.