DNA Report Supports Hwang's Claim

[rayilynlee <rayilynlee@xxxxxxx>]

                          DNA Report Supports Hwang's Claim
                       
                       

                        By Cho Jin-seo
                        Staff Reporter 
                        DNA test results showed samples from Prof. Hwang 
Woo-seok's laboratory matched the body cells of the patients, which could mean 
that Hwang's team has partially succeeded in creating patient-tailored 
stem-cell lines, according to news reports. 

                        Quoting unnamed sources at Seoul National University, 
which is conducting investigations, news cable channel YTN said that the 
results received from three separate agencies indicated that the five samples 
preserved frozen since March had identical DNA structures with the body cells. 
The cells, however, cannot be regarded as complete stem-cell lines because they 
can die before evolving into further stages. 

                        The university refused to confirm the news. 

                        The panel has been investigating whether Hwang ever 
created patient-tailored embryonic stem-cell lines as he claimed in a paper 
published in journal Science in May. On Friday, the panel said that it found 
Hwang had faked nine of 11 samples used in the Science article and that it 
would get complete test results for other samples this week. 

                        The five samples were not included in the Science 
article, as it was made after the submission of the paper in March, according 
to the panel. Hwang himself insisted in a press conference on Dec. 16 that the 
five samples will prove the presence of so-called ``source technology'' of 
human stem cell cloning, even though he did fake other samples. 

                        The final report on the authenticity of Hwang's 
research will be delayed until next month as the panel has yet to receive all 
necessary information from DNA test agencies. It also said on Tuesday that it 
commissioned more samples used in Hwang's 2004 Science article for DNA tests. 

                        Meanwhile, the panel also said that researcher Kim 
Sun-jong received $30,000 from Hwang's colleagues Prof. Ahn Curie and Prof. 
Yoon Hyun-soo while he was in the United States, raising suspicions whether 
Hwang tried to bribe Kim. 

                        Yoon said that Hwang asked him to give $20,000 to Kim 
on Nov. 15 after the scandal broke out. Then Ahn handed over another $10,000 to 
Kim's father on Dec. 2, right after Kim had an interview with YTN in which he 
defended Hwang. Kim returned all $30,000 to the university, the panel said. 

                        The case may make Yoon vulnerable to a charge of 
violating the foreign exchange control law. Under the current system, travelers 
have to report to the customs when carrying more than $10,000 out of the 
nation. 

                        Kim is suspected of having been involved in fabricating 
the data of the stem-cell lines. He has also been accused by Hwang of swapping 
the stem cells used in the research without notifying the professor. 





                        
                        
                         

                       
                 
            
      
             

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