Skip to main content

Human Stem Cell Trial Questioned

Research purporting to cure patients with heart disease using induced pluripotent stem cells may be a fraud.

Written byEdyta Zielinska
| 2 min read

Register for free to listen to this article
Listen with Speechify
0:00
2:00

A poster sessionFlickr, ThinkGeoEnergyA clinical trial that claimed to treat six heart disease patients with induced pluripotent stem cells has been brought into question due to dubious reports about where the research had taken place and lead author Hisashi Moriguchi’s misrepresented institutional affiliations.

Moriguchi told Nature that his clinical trials were approved and conducted in Harvard facilities, which he lists as one of his affiliations. But, a Harvard communications officer told ScienceInsider that Moriguchi had only worked as a visiting fellow at Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) "from late November through the end of December of 1999," and he "has not been associated with MGH or Harvard" since then.

In addition, Harvard University released a statement saying that “no clinical trials related to Dr Moriguchi's work have been approved by institutional review boards at either Harvard University or MGH.”

On the heels of the Nobel Prize awarded for work on induced pluripotent stem cells last week, this research would have been the first time that such adult cells reverted ...

Interested in reading more?

Become a Member of

The Scientist Logo
Receive full access to more than 35 years of archives, as well as TS Digest, digital editions of The Scientist, feature stories, and much more!
Already a member?
Add The Scientist as a preferred source on Google

Add The Scientist as a preferred Google source to see more of our trusted coverage.

Meet the Author

  • The Scientist Placeholder Image

    Edyta Zielinska was a senior editor at The Scientist from 2007 to 2013, where she worked closely with scientific illustrators to develop accompanying graphics to illuminate complex concepts. 

    View Full Profile

Related Topics

Related articles background image
August 2026 Digest cover
August 2026

Epic Fail: Sea-Monkeys Sabotage Fieldwork

When Barry Hicks set out to photograph thrombolites, thousands of unexpected visitors photobombed his underwater images.

View this Issue
Overcoming Immunotherapy Resistance in Liver Cancer

Overcoming Immunotherapy Resistance in Liver Cancer

Axion Biosystems
Optimizing NGS Library Preparation for Reliable Sequencing Data

Optimizing NGS Library Preparation for Reliable Sequencing Data

Covaris
Using TCR Repertoire Sequencing to Advance Immunology Research

Using TCR Repertoire Sequencing to Advance Immunology Research

Miltenyi
Mapping Clonal Mosaicism in Aging Tissues

Mapping Clonal Mosaicism in Aging Tissues

Mission bio

Products

Sino Biological Logo

Sino Biological Launches SuperNuclease ® Pro with Free Trial Program

Sino Biological Logo

Sino Biological Launches Precisely Characterized Full-Length p-Tau217 Protein to Advance Next-Generation Alzheimer’s Biomarker Assay Development

A photo of a scientist placing the Resipher device on a 96-well plate.

Resipher: Continuous Live-Cell Mitochondrial Respiration Monitoring in 96-Well Plates

Lucid Scientific logo
Conceptual image of ice and frost.

The VAULT100 PRO: Inside the most advanced Stirling Ultracold ULT freezer ever built.

Stirling Ultracold logo