Stem Cell Scientist Found Dead in Apparent Suicide

August 5, 2014

(New Scientist) – A senior Japanese stem cell scientist has died in an apparent suicide. Yoshiki Sasai, who recently co-authored two controversial papers on stem cells, was found dead at his laboratory, the Riken Center for Developmental Biology in Kobe, Japan. Riken’s deputy director, Sasai was renowned for his ability to coax stem cells into becoming other types of cells. This year, however, his career has been under the spotlight. Sasai was a co-author on two research papers that claimed to produce embryonic stem cells called STAP from adult cells using acid. The papers were retracted from the journal Nature in July due to multiple errors.