The fraud perpetrated by South Korean scientist Hwang Woo-Suk is a setback for regenerative medicine, but it also serves as a rich learning opportunity for California's $3 billion stem cell research institute.
For the last two months, leaders of the California Institute of Regenerative Medicine have resisted calls to publicly review the South Korea scandal and ensure that its ethics standards are adequate to avoid similar misdeeds. Now we know why.

As it turns out, an ethics adviser for the California institute, Jose Cibelli, co-authored a 2004 paper by Hwang that has been under suspicion for weeks and now has been shown to include fabricated data. Michigan State University, where Cibelli works, is investigating Cibelli's role in co-authoring the 2004 paper, in which Hwang made a monumental claim - now discredited - to have cloned a human embryo and extracted stem cells from it.
After inquiries from this page, the California institute disclosed Wednesday that Cibelli will not be advising the institute while the investigation continues.

"Until that issue is resolved, Cibelli has voluntarily withdrawn from his activities on the Standards Working Group, as of Tuesday of this week," said institute spokeswoman Nicole Pagano. She said that Cibelli himself had requested the Michigan State investigation; a spokeswoman for the university declined to comment on any aspect of the investigation.

The study that Cibelli authored with Hwang, published in the journal Science in March of 2004, was a blockbuster in the field of stem cell research.

In the paper, Hwang, Cibelli and other co-authors claimed they had cloned a human embryo and extracted specialized stem cells from it. The breakthrough gave hope to diseased patients that scientists could soon create stem cells tailored to a person's unique DNA. The cells could then be transplanted into a patient with a reduced risk of immune rejection.

Cibelli fed these hopes by claiming that South Korea was outpacing the United States in stem cell research.

"They have all the know-how, the resources, the money and they have a law that protects their work," Cibelli told the Associated Press last year. "I don't see any reason these guys will slow down."

Last week, however, a panel at Seoul National University concluded that Hwang falsified many of the results. Science then retracted the 2004 study.

Hwang "did not have any proof to show that cloned embryonic stem cells were ever created," the panel said in its report. "The 2004 paper was written on fabricated data to show that the stem match the DNA of the provider although they didn't."

For now, it is unclear if Cibelli knew about Hwang's fabrications or simply was duped. Either way, the incident doesn't speak well of his ability to set and enforce rigorous standards on scientists who hope to receive grants from the California institute.

One key issue for California is how these scientists will obtain human eggs for research and ensure that women aren't exploited or endangered while providing their ovum.

Hwang claimed his laboratory followed the highest ethical standards in obtaining eggs, but he lied about this, too. Junior researchers - who could easily be coerced by Hwang - provided some of the eggs. Investigators are examining if others were purchased on the black market for eggs.

In a Dec. 29 editorial, this page criticized the institute Standards Working Group for not delving into the South Korean scandal. The working group's chair, Bernard Lo, sent us a highly misleading letter (published Jan. 8) that suggested the working group had engaged in such a discussion at its Dec. 1 meeting, even though it hadn't.

Much more has been disclosed about Hwang since that meeting. As a result, Lo has no excuse not to have a full discussion about the scandal on Jan. 30. That's when the Standards Working Group is scheduled to meet again - without Cibelli.