SEOUL: A South Korean court prepared to deliver a verdict Monday in the trial of a disgraced scientist whose fraudulent claims of breakthroughs in stem cell research shook the international scientific community.
Hwang Woo-suk was once hailed as a national hero in South Korea. His purported breakthroughs in cloning stem cells raised hopes for developing cures to diseases such as Alzheimer's, but they were deemed bogus in 2005 and Hwang was put on trial a year later.
Hwang publicly apologized for faking data in academic papers but said he was also deceived by a fellow researcher.
A central point in the case is whether Hwang accepted research funds knowing that the papers he had published contained fake data.
Hwang had been the only South Korean scientist allowed to carry out research into stem cells - master cells that can grow into any bodily tissue - that scientists say could lead to revolutionary cures for hard-to-treat diseases such as Alzheimer's and Parkinson's. But the government stripped him of his license in 2006, citing his "ethical problems."
Hwang and his former colleagues at Seoul National University said in a 2004 paper in the journal Science that they had created the world's first cloned human embryos and extracted stem cells from them. A year later, Hwang's team also claimed in the journal that they had created human embryonic stem cells genetically matched to specific patients, a purported breakthrough that promised a way to withstand rejection by a patient's immune system.
But a university committee later declared the 2005 paper a fraud based on faked data, and cast doubt on his 2004 findings as well. Science retraced Hwang's both papers.
Hwang, fired from his university, is now focusing on animal cloning at a local institute. During an August 24 trial, Hwang pleaded for leniency, saying he was ready to "pour the last of my passion" into research.
Hwang and his team of scientists claimed to have created the world's first known dog clone in 2005, and that achievement was independently confirmed.