Questions Linger over Stress-Induced Stem Cells

January 2, 2015

(Nature) – The latest investigation into a debunked method of generating stem cells has left researchers grappling with questions about what went wrong in a laboratory at the RIKEN research institute in Japan. The final report from the independent investigation, released on 26 December, bolstered suspicions that the stem cells — which were supposedly generated by applying stress to ordinary adult cells in an acid bath — were actually embryonic stem cells that had been introduced to the samples. But investigators were unable to determine how the contamination occurred or whether it was accidental.