In
her short scientific career, the trajectory of Haruko Obokata was meteoric.
Before the 30-year-old was 20, she was accepted into the science department at Tokyo's
Waseda University where the admittance board placed great importance on a
candidate's aspirations.
Then
she studied at Harvard University in what was supposed to be a half-year
program, but advisers were so impressed with her research,
they asked her stay longer.
It
was there that she would come up with an idea that would come to define her
– in ways good and bad. The research was called STAP
– "stimulus-triggered acquisition of pluripotency" – which
unveiled a new way to grow tissue. "I think about my research all day
long, including when I am taking a bath and when I am on a date with my
boyfriend," Obokata told the Asahi Shimbun.
Last
January, just three years after Obokata earned her PhD, she published what
appeared to be her groundbreaking research in the scientific journal Nature.
It
purported to establish a new way to grow tissue and treat complicated illnesses
like diabetes and Parkinson's disease with an uncomplicated lab procedure.
Many
called it the third most significant breakthrough in stem cell research.
"There
were many days when I wanted to give up on my research and cried all night
long," she said at news conference. "But I encouraged myself to hold
on just for one more day."
The
headlines were thunderous. "Stem cell 'major discovery' claimed," BBC
bellowed. "STAP cell pioneer nearly gave up on her research,"
reported the Asahi Shimbun. "Scientist triumphed over setbacks,"
crooned the Japan News.
On
Tuesday morning, Obokata's research institute, Riken, which is almost entirely
funded by the government, announced that the 30-year-old had purposely
fabricated the data to produce the findings.
Institute
director Ryoji Noyori said he'll "rigorously punish relevant people after
procedures in a disciplinary committee," according to AFP.
The
investigation's head said the paper "amounts to phony research or
fabrication." He added: "The manipulation was used to improve the
appearance of the results."
Obokata,
for her part, denied the month-long investigation's allegations. "I will
file a complaint against Riken as it's absolutely impossible for me to accept
this," AFP reports her saying in a statement.
Whispers
began soon after the paper hit print. No one was able to successfully reproduce
the experiment.
According
to Riken's preliminary report, the institute received its first hint that not
everything was as it seemed with Obokata's research on February 13, and
eventually conceded there were "serious errors."
Riken
said it launched its probe of the research that day "given the seriousness
of the issue."
In
early March one of the paper's co-authors, Teruhiko Wakayama, jumped ship,
calling for a retraction of the findings. "It's unlikely that it was a
careless mistake," he wrote the Wall Street Journal in an email.
"There
is no more credibility when there are such crucial mistakes," he added.
At
issue, investigators say, are images of DNA fragments submitted into Obokata's
work. They say they weren't the result of "errors," as previously
theorised. The images were either doctored or entirely fabricated.
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