A government-affiliated laboratory said Tuesday it is considering retracting a research paper on a trailblazing method to create stem cells that drew global attention after one of the co-authors said the paper should be withdrawn until certain aspects are confirmed.
Questions have been raised about images and wording used in the paper, which was written by a group led by Haruko Obokata at Riken's Center for Developmental Biology on a method the group named "stimulus-triggered acquisition of pluripotency," or STAP.
Riken spokesman Satoru Kagaya said in Tokyo that the institute will report progress of an inquiry into the research paper Friday, and that it will take a while for the inquiry committee to compile its final report.