Scientist stripped of doctorate over stem cell scandal

TOKYO: A Japanese university has revoked a doctoral degree awarded to a young researcher embroiled in a scandal that has rocked the scientific establishment.

Haruko Obokata, 32, drew intense media scrutiny after failing to reproduce the results of what was once billed as a groundbreaking study on stem cells.

Last year, Waseda University told her to correct her thesis, which it says contained copyright infringements and other flaws.

The university’s president Kaoru Kamata announced the degree revocation on Monday after she missed an Oct 31 deadline.

Obokata reportedly opposed the revocation, saying she was considering court action.

In January last year, Japan’s Riken Institute hailed Obokata’s study into re-programming adult cells to work like stem cells, but doubts emerged after mistakes were found in data published in two papers, photo captions were found to be misleading, and the work itself could not be replicated by other scientists. – AFP