“RIKEN is Japan’s largest and most comprehensive research
organization for basic and applied science and a world leader in a diverse
array of scientific disciplines.” That is what a currently suspected research organization
says about itself on its webpage.
RIKEN on Tuesday officially announced the result of its
internal investigation that there were fabrication and manipulation of data in
the thesis about stimulus-triggered acquisition of pluripotency (STAP) cell,
based on the study conducted by a young female scientist, Haruko Obokata.
Although Obokata disputed against the instant conclusion of RIKEN, President of
RIKEN, Ryoji Noyori, a Nobel Prize Laureate on chemistry in 2001, dismissed it,
saying “She must have conviction of her findings.”
RIKEN concluded that one photograph of a tissue created from
STAP cell was fabrication and a dougted picture on analysis of genes was
manipulation, the inappropriate study which could not be attributed only to
immatureness of a scientist. Noyori apologized to the public and determined the
thesis to be false. He required Obokarta and her co-authors to take full
responsibility and indicated possible penalty on them.
Obokata strongly opposed to the conclusion through her agent.
She explained that “fabrication” was a simple mistake and it had been her who
firstly found and correct it. On manipulation of picture, she reasoned it as
for presenting more obvious evidence and having nothing to do with result of
the experiment. She still insisted on the existence of STAP cell and even RIKEN
did not deny it. The organization will continue study on it for a year.
As long as RIKEN says nothing about existence of STAP, the
study itself has not died. It is possible that RIKEN tried to dodge this
barrage against the study, which would overturn fundamental basis of biology,
by attributing everything to one young scientist. RIKEN had been on the process
of registration as a special national research and development organization. To
maintain credibility and survive this hardship, the organization might have
chosen a way to sacrifice her. There is no scientific motivation, which
deliberately seeks truth, in that solution.
Test for RIKEN is not becoming new organization, but whether
it will be able to find a truth through one-year investigation. A colleague of
Obokata said that he had data that could not be explained without existence of
STAP cell. RIKEN should not escape from its true job.
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