Some portions of purportedly trailblazing stem cell research papers by Riken researchers and others were fraudulent, the government-backed institute acknowledged Tuesday.
A Riken panel investigating allegations leveled at the papers on so-called STAP cells found that two sets of images used in the papers were either manipulated or fabricated by Haruko Obokata, the Riken researcher who was the papers’ lead author.
The panel declined to say, however, at a press conference whether STAP cells — short for stimulus-triggered acquisition of pluripotency cells — really exist or not.
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