SEOUL, March 1: A South Korean scientist who once said he wanted to be as famous as now-disgraced stem cell expert Hwang Woo-Suk has been caught faking his study, news reports here said on Saturday.

The Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST) said on Friday it had suspended bioscience professor Kim Tae-kook for fabricating data in two papers, which had been hailed as breakthroughs and were published in two renowned journals.

The controversial papers include “A Magnetic Nanoprobe Technology for Detecting Molecular Interactions in Live Cells” published in Science in July 2005 and “Small Molecule-Based Reversible Reprogramming of Cellular Lifespan” released in Nature Chemicalbiology in July 2006.

His research was said to have paved the way for developing medicines that can detect and kill cancer cells selectively without hurting normal cells or materials that can prevent the ageing of cells and extend human life.

But KAIST said Kim had fabricated data for both papers, adding it had suspended Kim and informed both journals about the findings.

“Professor Kim manipulated microscopic photos to fabricate study results,” Lee Gyun-Min, head of KAIST’s Department of Biological Sciences, told reporters Friday at KAIST in the central city of Daejeon.

The university was unable to reach Kim, who is believed to be in the US, he said.

In January 2006, Science had to retract two papers written by Hwang Woo-Suk after his stem-cell research was found to be bogus.

After publishing his first paper in Science in July 2005, Kim told a local newspaper: “I want to become another Hwang Woo-Suk for Korea.”—AFP

Opinion

Editorial

Taking cover
Updated 09 Jan, 2025

Taking cover

IT is unfortunate that, instead of taking ownership of important decisions, our officials usually seem keener to ...
A living hell
09 Jan, 2025

A living hell

WHAT Donald Trump does domestically when he enters the White House in just under two weeks is frankly the American...
A right denied
09 Jan, 2025

A right denied

DESPITE citizens possessing the constitutional and legal right to access it, federal ministries are failing to...
Closed doors
Updated 08 Jan, 2025

Closed doors

The nation’s fate has been decided through secret deals for too long, with the result that the citizenry has become increasingly alienated from the state.
Debt burden
08 Jan, 2025

Debt burden

THE federal government’s total debt stock soared by above 11pc year-over-year to Rs70.4tr at the end of November,...
GB power crisis
08 Jan, 2025

GB power crisis

MASS protests are not a novelty in Pakistan, and when the state refuses to listen through the available channels —...