The Co-Knucklehead of the Day Part Three

You would think our third winner would be too smart to get an award but think again. Today's third Co-Knucklehead is Hwang Woo-suk. He is a South Korean scientist who recently published a paper on stem-cell research. Unfortunately some of the data in the report was fiction and Dr. Hwang had to ask for the paper to be withdrawn.

Hwang's lack of ethics is sign of a growing trend. I recall a news report a few months ago that said cases like Hwang's are growing increasingly more common. Dr. Hwang reminds me of the MSM, their overzealousness to report what they see as right as led them to publish anything even if its lies.

TMH Bacon Bits shares his thoughts on Dr. Hwang.

For this Dr. Hwang Woo-Suk is one of today's Co-Knuckleheads of the Day.

Open Post- Jo's Cafe, Basil's Blog, Bright & Early, Right Wing Nation, Bloggin Outloud,

Scientist Hwang Woo-suk fabricated his stem cell research published in journal Science this year and asked the journal to retract his paper, a close associate said yesterday (Dec 15).

Roh Sung-il, one of co-authors, said Hwang admitted there remain no embryonic stem cells which his team claimed to create through cloning.

In May, Hwang's team announced that it had produced 11 different embryos from cells of patients and cultivated stem cell lines from them.

In an interview with MBC-TV, Roh claimed that six patient-specific stem cells (lines from No 2 to No 7) have died after being contaminated by fungus in November 2004.

He said Hwang later produced another six stem cells, but they were not derived from the cloned cells of patients.

Hwang instructed his subordinate working in the United States to fabricate pictures for the paper, he added.

Hwang has agreed with other major co-authors to withdraw the paper, according to Roh.

"I didn't know that (the loss of stem cells). I feel miserable," Hwang was quoted as saying.

Roh is the administrator of MizMedi Hospital, which provided the human ova for Hwang's research. He visited Hwang at Seoul National University Hospital.

Hwang's team said the stem cells were seriously damaged and preserved in refrigeration. They are now working to recover them and it will take about two to three weeks.

Lee Wang-jae, a senior SNU official, confirmed that the research was fake.

"Hwang's research team admitted that there were no embryonic stem cells which it claimed had created," said Lee who was tapped to lead a SNU committee to investigate his research.

"Today is the most shameful day for Korea's science community."

Roh said that it seems that nine out of the 11 stem cells were fake and he was not sure whether the other two were authentic.

"Of the 11 embryonic stem cells described in Hwang's study, nine are fake, with the authenticity of the two others yet to be confirmed," he said.

In this regard, SNU professor Ahn Curie, a key member of Hwang's research team, also said that she is not convinced of how many stem cells are left at present, according to the MBC TV report.