STAP Stem Cell Controversy Ends in Suicide for Japanese Scientist

A Japanese scientist who played an instrumental role in two discredited studies about a new type of stem cells hanged himself at his research institute in Kobe, according to media reports there.

Yoshiki Sasai, a deputy director of the RIKEN Center for Developmental Biology, left behind five apparent suicide notes, Japan Times reported Tuesday.

“I am overcome with grief at this terrible news,” RIKEN President Ryoji Noyori said in a statement released Tuesday. “The scientific world has lost a talented and dedicated researcher, who earned our deep respect for the advanced research he carried out over many years. I would like to express my deepest condolences to Dr. Sasai’s family and colleagues.”

Sasai was a coauthor on two papers published in Nature that purported to offer a quick and simple way of making highly versatile stem cells. Instead of destroying embryos or tinkering with their DNA, the scientists said they produced their flexible cells by stressing them out in an acid bath for 30 minutes and then spinning them in a centrifuge for 5 minutes.

At first, scientists...