Apologetic but resolute in the face of intense international scrutiny of her stem cell research, Haruko Obokata stood by her claim Wednesday that she had discovered so-called STAP cells.
Appearing at a news conference at an Osaka hotel accompanied by her lawyers, the 30-year-old researcher at the government-backed Riken institute denied allegations that she falsified or fabricated data presented in research papers published in the British science journal Nature in January.
"I sincerely apologize for suspicions raised over my research papers and the enormous trouble caused to Riken, co-authors of the papers and many others due to my carelessness, sloppiness and immaturity," she said. "I think my mistakes were incredibly (immature) in the eyes of many researchers.