select search filters
briefings
roundups & rapid reactions
before the headlines
Fiona fox's blog
It was announced that Nature had formally retracted the article and letter on STAP cells by Obakata et al. after an in depth investigation into critical errors by the RIKEN Institute.
Dr Dusko Ilic, Senior Lecturer in Stem Cell Science, King’s College London, said:
“It is easy to be judgmental and pointing fingers after all is over. Gaining knowledge is difficult. It requires both time and persistence. I hoped that Haruko Obokata would prove at the end all those naysayers wrong. Unfortunately, she did not. The STAP technology, indeed, sounded too good to be true. Though, I still find fascinating how a 30-year-old scientist could pass a scrutiny of her co-workers and multiple reviewers in Nature with a complete fabrication.”
Prof Chris Mason, Chair of Regenerative Medicine Bioprocessing, University College London, said:
“This incident highlights that the peer review process does not end at the recommendation to publish a paper, but continues with even greater rigour by a wide range of experts in their laboratories and increasingly across social media. Final validation is the reproduction of the data by independent scientists. This final step is the most important step in the entire peer review process.”
Full notice of the retractions by Nature can be found here:
http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v511/n7507/full/nature13599.html
http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v511/n7507/full/nature13598.html
Declared interests
None declared