Not So Fast
The state of stem cell research within the U-S-of-A has been a sore spot with me. For generally faith-driven reasons, we are putting an effective halt on progress in a field that could greatly influence and improve our future quality of life, and which could also dictate our national competitiveness. (This is why California’s decision to throw $3B large at stem cell research, in the face of our state’s poor finances, made me proud to be a Californian. Primary research leads to commercialization leads to jobs leads to the virtuous cycle that clusters such as Silicon Valley enjoy.)
So the news that Seoul National University researcher Dr. Hwang Woo-sok had faked his research was startling - whoa, hold the presses. The timing is horrendous - Hwang’s work had just been lauded in various year-in-review issues, such as in Scientific American, which later commented on the controversy in its blog. But more importantly, the news threatened to deflate the recent favorable attention stem cell research has received.
That said, there seems to be no linkage between Hwang and the news in November 2004 that a South Korean woman had regained the ability to walk following surgery on her spine that used stem cells from umbilical cord blood. And it remains that Hawaiian crooner Don Ho chose to have experimental stem cell surgery on his heart…in Thailand.
SciAm comments well in its blog on the potential ramifications of the news, ranging from greater standardization and centralization of research practices to the demoralizing impact in Korea to making what’s happening in California look more attractive.