Korean Stem Cell Researcher Makes Mistaken Breakthrough

From ClickToNews

[edit] Abstract

A few years ago, a Korean scientist, Hwang Woo-suk, claimed to have made a major breakthrough by cloning stem cells. The claim was quickly denounced as fraud. Now, after looking into the details of Hwang's research, it now seems that the Hwang was able to reproduce stem cells - not through cloning as he had claimed, but through an equally difficult and long sought-after method called parthenogenesis.

[edit] Details

In a recently published article in the Cell Stem Cell journal, a team of scientists argue that Hwang and his team had actually produced new stem cells via parthenogenesis. In parthenogenesis, a female egg is stimulated into splitting into multiple cells as if it had been impregnated by a sperm. The scientists point out that cells created by parthenogenesis have a signature marking in their DNA - and the stem cells created by Hwang and his team had that signature marking in their DNA.

Along with cloning, creating stem cells via parthenogenesis have been two long sought after processes for producing stem cells without requiring aborted embryos. Stem cells have shown incredible promise in future medical treatments, but currently their dependency on aborted human embryos as a source has mired stem cell research into ethical debates. The hope is that with a source of stem cells independent of aborted embryos, stem cell research & future medical treatments will flourish.