STAP Author Can’t Replicate Results

RIKEN’s Haruko Obokata fails to replicate stimulus-triggered acquisition of pluripotency.

kerry grens
| 1 min read

Register for free to listen to this article
Listen with Speechify
0:00
1:00
Share

WIKIMEDIA, UCSANDIEGOSTEMCELLPROGRAMAlthough both papers describing stimulus-triggered acquisition of pluripotency (STAP)—a simple procedure to reprogram stem cells—have been retracted, there’s been some lingering hope that perhaps the technique could still work. Haruko Obokata, lead author on the publications, recently guided a replication attempt by her institution, the RIKEN Center for Developmental Biology, but did not succeed.

“I worked hard for three months to show significant results, but I’m so exhausted now and extremely puzzled,” Obokata said in a statement to reporters last week (December 19). Earlier in the year, a RIKEN investigation found Obokata had fabricated data. She also resigned last week.

RIKEN’s Shinichi Aizawa, who led the attempt to reproduce STAP, told BBC News: “We have conducted verification experiments but can't repeat the Stap phenomenon. As a result, we will terminate the verification experiments.”

According to ScienceInsider, “Aizawa suggested that Obokata may have interpreted the glow from a marker gene inserted into tissue indicating pluripotency when a much stronger signal is required. The verification team also succeeded in creating cells that fluoresced, but not at the levels typically expected to ...

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? Login Here

Keywords

Meet the Author

  • kerry grens

    Kerry Grens

    Kerry served as The Scientist’s news director until 2021. Before joining The Scientist in 2013, she was a stringer for Reuters Health, the senior health and science reporter at WHYY in Philadelphia, and the health and science reporter at New Hampshire Public Radio. Kerry got her start in journalism as a AAAS Mass Media fellow at KUNC in Colorado. She has a master’s in biological sciences from Stanford University and a biology degree from Loyola University Chicago.

Share
3D illustration of a gold lipid nanoparticle with pink nucleic acid inside of it. Purple and teal spikes stick out from the lipid bilayer representing polyethylene glycol.
February 2025, Issue 1

A Nanoparticle Delivery System for Gene Therapy

A reimagined lipid vehicle for nucleic acids could overcome the limitations of current vectors.

View this Issue
Enhancing Therapeutic Antibody Discovery with Cross-Platform Workflows

Enhancing Therapeutic Antibody Discovery with Cross-Platform Workflows

sartorius logo
Considerations for Cell-Based Assays in Immuno-Oncology Research

Considerations for Cell-Based Assays in Immuno-Oncology Research

Lonza
An illustration of animal and tree silhouettes.

From Water Bears to Grizzly Bears: Unusual Animal Models

Taconic Biosciences
Sex Differences in Neurological Research

Sex Differences in Neurological Research

bit.bio logo

Products

Photo of a researcher overseeing large scale production processes in a laboratory.

Scaling Lentiviral Vector Manufacturing for Optimal Productivity

Thermo Fisher Logo
Collage-style urban graphic of wastewater surveillance and treatment

Putting Pathogens to the Test with Wastewater Surveillance

An illustration of an mRNA molecule in front of a multicolored background.

Generating High-Quality mRNA for In Vivo Delivery with lipid nanoparticles

Thermo Fisher Logo
Tecan Logo

Tecan introduces Veya: bringing digital, scalable automation to labs worldwide