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.
Four people jailed in the landmark Hong Kong national security trial of "47 democrats" accused of conspiracy to commit subversion were freed today after more than four years behind bars, the second group to be released in a month. Among those freed was long-time political and LGBTQ activist Jimmy Sham (岑子杰), who also led one of Hong Kong’s largest pro-democracy groups, the Civil Human Rights Front, which disbanded in 2021. "Let me spend some time with my family," Sham said after arriving at his home in the Kowloon district of Jordan. "I don’t know how to plan ahead because, to me, it feels
The collapse of the Swiss Birch glacier serves as a chilling warning of the escalating dangers faced by communities worldwide living under the shadow of fragile ice, particularly in Asia, experts said. Footage of the collapse on Wednesday showed a huge cloud of ice and rubble hurtling down the mountainside into the hamlet of Blatten. Swiss Development Cooperation disaster risk reduction adviser Ali Neumann said that while the role of climate change in the case of Blatten “still needs to be investigated,” the wider impacts were clear on the cryosphere — the part of the world covered by frozen water. “Climate change and
Poland is set to hold a presidential runoff election today between two candidates offering starkly different visions for the country’s future. The winner would succeed Polish President Andrzej Duda, a conservative who is finishing his second and final term. The outcome would determine whether Poland embraces a nationalist populist trajectory or pivots more fully toward liberal, pro-European policies. An exit poll by Ipsos would be released when polls close today at 9pm local time, with a margin of error of plus or minus 2 percentage points. Final results are expected tomorrow. Whoever wins can be expected to either help or hinder the
DENIAL: Musk said that the ‘New York Times was lying their ass off,’ after it reported he used so much drugs that he developed bladder problems Elon Musk on Saturday denied a report that he used ketamine and other drugs extensively last year on the US presidential campaign trail. The New York Times on Friday reported that the billionaire adviser to US President Donald Trump used so much ketamine, a powerful anesthetic, that he developed bladder problems. The newspaper said the world’s richest person also took ecstasy and mushrooms, and traveled with a pill box last year, adding that it was not known whether Musk also took drugs while heading the so-called US Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) after Trump took power in January. In a