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A mercurial former U.S. collaborator of cloning pioneer Prof. Hwang Woo-suk has withdrawn his name as co-author from a stem cell research paper published earlier this year that has come under increasing fire for its accuracy. Prof. Gerald Schatten of the University of Pittsburgh said Tuesday he is asking the journal Science to take him off the list of authors of the paper published in May. Observers say Schatten is trying to put clear blue water between himself and the ongoing controversy but may have attracted more publicity with the unusual move.
In an e-mail to co-authors on Tuesday, Schatten said he had asked Science to strike him from the list of authors of the article on stem cells tailored to match patients¡¯ DNA.
Schatten said he received documents last week from ¡°someone¡± involved in the research that suggests results were fabricated. After carefully reviewing pictures and the data in the article in light of the new information, the geneticist said he began to have doubts over the accuracy of the paper. Schatten did not say whether the ¡°someone¡± was Korean.
Schatten has been hard to pin down in the controversy surrounding Hwang¡¯s article. He publicly severed relations with Hwang over ethical concerns last month but later voiced his support for Hwang. On Saturday, Schatten reportedly told a core member of Hwang¡¯s research team by phone he was ¡°300 percent¡± sure that the Science paper was authentic.
(englishnews@chosun.com )
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