SEOUL, Jan. 10 (UPI) -- A university panel investigating the work of disgraced South Korean cloning scientist Hwang Woo-suk has found further fabrications in his research.
Hwang's landmark claim to have cloned human embryonic stem cells was false, the panel found. The head of the peer review says Hwang lied to the Korean people and scientific world and should be severely punished, The Washington Post reported.
The panel, however, did find legitimate the claim that Hwang's team created the world's first cloned dog -- an Afghan hound called Snuppy is genetically identical to his father.
Hwang claimed in a 2004 paper in the journal Science that his team had produced a line of stem cells from a cloned human embryo.
The achievement was judged to be a major scientific breakthrough in the search for cures for a range of degenerative diseases including diabetes and Parkinson's disease, the BBC said.
Some analysts are describing his fall from grace as one of the biggest cases of scientific fraud in recent history, the BBC said. Hwang has admitted errors but also claims his work was sabotaged.
