Lawyers for fallen South Korean scientist Hwang Woo-suk yesterday called for additional tests to verify Hwang's insistence that his stem cell breakthroughs were genuine despite being discredited in a scandal over the falsified research behind them.
As Hwang's lawyers opened their defense in his trial over alleged misappropriation of public and private funds for forged research, they said they want a court order to retrieve samples of what Hwang claims to be the world's first cloned embryonic stem cells.
Seoul National University deemed them to be from mutated eggs, not cloned stem cells, after questions were raised about Hwang's breakthroughs at a university laboratory, which he reported in a 2004 article for the journal Science.
The school has refused to return the samples to Hwang after firing him earlier this year, Hwang's lawyer Jung Keun-hwa said.
"We have a plan to conduct more tests," Jung said in court.
Hwang believes that further tests could show that the samples are indeed genuine cloned stem cells, Jung said.
Hwang has maintained that anything that was falsified in his research results was done by researchers at his laboratory who deceived him into thinking the results were real.
In court yesterday, Hwang said that any allegations that he ordered his researchers to fabricate DNA test results were "a story like a novel."
"I didn't even know the means to fabricate DNA tests," Hwang said, claiming "it was very clear" that his researchers had lied to prosecutors.
He said he had never coerced his researchers into following unethical orders and that his researchers "were not the type of people who would have followed inappropriate orders even if they were told to."
Researchers have testified at previous hearings, however, that they couldn't question or disobey Hwang, who was senior to them.
Hwang is facing charges for allegedly accepting 2 billion won (US$2.1 million) in private donations based on the outcome of the falsified research and of embezzling about 800 million won in private and government research funds. If convicted, he faces at least three years in prison.
Hwang's claims of world-leading advances in the new field of stem cell research were discredited after revelations last year of ethics lapses that culminated in Hwang admitting that forged evidence was used for some of his academic papers.
At the last court hearing last month, lawyers for Hwang's associates facing similar charges began their defense.
Hwang's purported breakthroughs published in leading international science journals had thrust South Korea to the fore of stem-cell research, which some scientists believe could help create innovative new cures for untreatable diseases.
Stem cells are basic cells that can grow into all kinds of tissue, and cloning them could create a way for patients to be treated while minimizing risk of rejection.
ECONOMIC WORRIES: The ruling PAP faces voters amid concerns that the city-state faces the possibility of a recession and job losses amid Washington’s tariffs Singapore yesterday finalized contestants for its general election on Saturday next week, with the ruling People’s Action Party (PAP) fielding 32 new candidates in the biggest refresh of the party that has ruled the city-state since independence in 1965. The move follows a pledge by Singaporean Prime Minister Lawrence Wong (黃循財), who took office last year and assumed the PAP leadership, to “bring in new blood, new ideas and new energy” to steer the country of 6 million people. His latest shake-up beats that of predecessors Lee Hsien Loong (李顯龍) and Goh Chok Tong (吳作棟), who replaced 24 and 11 politicians respectively
Archeologists in Peru on Thursday said they found the 5,000-year-old remains of a noblewoman at the sacred city of Caral, revealing the important role played by women in the oldest center of civilization in the Americas. “What has been discovered corresponds to a woman who apparently had elevated status, an elite woman,” archeologist David Palomino said. The mummy was found in Aspero, a sacred site within the city of Caral that was a garbage dump for more than 30 years until becoming an archeological site in the 1990s. Palomino said the carefully preserved remains, dating to 3,000BC, contained skin, part of the
‘WATER WARFARE’: A Pakistani official called India’s suspension of a 65-year-old treaty on the sharing of waters from the Indus River ‘a cowardly, illegal move’ Pakistan yesterday canceled visas for Indian nationals, closed its airspace for all Indian-owned or operated airlines, and suspended all trade with India, including to and from any third country. The retaliatory measures follow India’s decision to suspend visas for Pakistani nationals in the aftermath of a deadly attack by shooters in Kashmir that killed 26 people, mostly tourists. The rare attack on civilians shocked and outraged India and prompted calls for action against their country’s archenemy, Pakistan. New Delhi did not publicly produce evidence connecting the attack to its neighbor, but said it had “cross-border” links to Pakistan. Pakistan denied any connection to
A US federal judge on Tuesday ordered US President Donald Trump’s administration to halt efforts to shut down Voice of America (VOA), Radio Free Asia and Middle East Broadcasting Networks, the news broadcasts of which are funded by the government to export US values to the world. US District Judge Royce Lamberth, who is overseeing six lawsuits from employees and contractors affected by the shutdown of the US Agency for Global Media (USAGM), ordered the administration to “take all necessary steps” to restore employees and contractors to their positions and resume radio, television and online news broadcasts. USAGM placed more than 1,000
RSS