SKorea court convicts Hwang of stem cell fraud

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(Agencies)
Updated: 2009-10-26 15:15

SEOUL: A South Korean court on Monday found disgraced stem cell scientist Hwang Woo-suk guilty of fraud in a case that sent shockwaves throughout the scientific community.

Prosecutors were seeking a four-year prison term for Hwang, whose research team has been linked to major fraud in its once-celebrated stem cell studies. He was due to be sentenced later.

Hwang, once a scientist with rock-star like status in South Korea for bringing the country to the forefront of stem cell research, was facing trial on charges of fraud, misusing state funds and violating bioethics laws.

SKorea court convicts Hwang of stem cell fraud
South Korean disgraced scientist Hwang Woo-suk arrives for his trial at the Seoul Central District Court in Seoul, South Korea, Monday, Oct. 26, 2009. [Agencies]

"He was guilty of fabrication," the Seoul court said in a verdict in the trial that stretched more than three years and included painstaking details about the scientific work Hwang and his team had performed at Seoul National University.

The court also said that Hwang illegally diverted a portion of the money he received for research for his personal use.

Hwang's team was thought to have made two major breakthroughs in the field by cloning stem cells and tailoring them to a specific patient, which raised hopes of generating genetically specific tissue to repair damaged organs or treat diseases such as Alzheimer's.

Stem cells are the body's master cells, giving rise to all the tissues, organs and blood. Embryonic stem cells are considered the most powerful kinds of stem cells, as they have the potential to give rise to any type of tissue.

An investigation team at Seoul National University said in late 2005 that Hwang's team deliberately fabricated vital data in two papers on human embryonic stem cells.