“Japan Times”（http://www.japantimes.co.jp）
Hasty Riken STAP report draws fire
Left unanswered is whether the cells, as authors claim, even exist
Kyodo
2 April 2014
The Riken institute released the final findings Tuesday of an investigation into two controversial stem cell papers, in what appears to be a hasty attempt at preserving its chances of being upgraded by the government to a high-powered science research center.
The final report, released just over two weeks after an interim report, assigned blame to lead author Haruko Obokata for fabrication and falsification of data used in the articles that appeared in the British science journal Nature in late January.
But it failed to clear up some allegations, including the veracity of so-called STAP cells as claimed by the articles’ authors.
Riken began its investigation Feb. 20 after allegations of the articles’ impropriety first emerged on a Japanese website earlier in the month.
The controversy does not appear likely to go away anytime soon as Obokata, a researcher at the Riken Center for Developmental Biology, one of Riken’s laboratories, has rejected claims of data fabrication and manipulation, denying any such intent.
Obokata’s lawyer, Hideo Miki, said Wednesday that arrangements were being made to file an objection with Riken early next week over the investigation’s conclusion that she committed fraud as lead author of the two papers.
Miki said Obokata may hold a news conference as she has expressed a willingness to explain herself.
“I have never agreed to have the papers retracted. Nor do I intend to retract them,” Obokata was quoted as saying.
She has been given a 10-day window to appeal since March 31, when she was notified by the panel.
Regarding the six allegations leveled against the two research papers, Riken’s investigation panel acknowledged the fabrication of images purported to show STAP cells transforming into various somatic cells, as well as a falsification of an image to show DNA patterns extracted from cells.
STAP stands for stimulus-triggered acquisition of pluripotency.
Riken did not investigate whether the papers used cells other than STAP cells in experiments to test their ability to become a variety of different cells.
It also did not address an allegation that an experiment procedure published separately lacked evidence showing that somatic cells turned into STAP cells.
“I don’t understand the motivation,” said Riken Executive Director Maki Kawai when asked about the alleged misconduct.
Masatoshi Takeichi, director at the Riken Center for Developmental Biology, said, “there is no conclusive evidence” of the existence of STAP cells, adding the center will start the research from scratch over a one-year period.
“I didn’t mean to commit any fraud or have any malicious intent,” Obokata has said, explaining that one of the irregularities in the images was an attempt to show “better-looking photos” and the other was “a simple mistake.”
Riken is recommending the papers be withdrawn. But with Obokata planning to appeal, the prospect of retraction appears uncertain, as it requires consent from all authors. Another author, Charles Vacanti of Harvard Medical School, a former adviser to Obokata, is also opposed.
After the interim report was released on March 14, Riken President Ryoji Noyori reportedly told a meeting of the Liberal Democratic Party that the institute’s investigation into the allegations would “take another three months to a year.”
However, the final report came much quicker than he anticipated, with the press conference on it given Tuesday.
Behind the apparently hasty move may have been the government’s plan to upgrade select institutes to the status of high-powered national research centers with budgets to hire top-notch researchers and undertake long-term projects.
Just two days before the release of Riken’s interim investigation report on March 14, the government’s Council for Science and Technology Policy picked Riken and the National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology to receive such status and was preparing to pass relevant bills in the current Diet session through late June.
The interim report, however, fell short of stating whether the papers involved any fraudulent actions by authors, leaving room for doubt if Riken has the oversight ability required to receive the designation of a new research center.
In late March, a senior official at the science and technology ministry, which oversees Riken, was alarmed by the limited window Riken had to squarely address the allegations.
“If we hope to see the bills passed during the current Diet session, the final report must come out in the first week of April. We don’t want to suffer a loss by default,” the official said.
The final report was completed apparently to meet the legislative timetable and blamed Obokata alone. But government officials are skeptical about granting Riken the new status.
“It’s difficult to issue a Cabinet decision this month” on bills to designate Riken as a special research center, science minister Hakubun Shimomura said after meeting Riken President Noyori.
Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga said the government “wants to respond to the matter after having carefully checked the governance at Riken.”
Meanwhile, a professor at a university in the Kansai region said, “Riken seems to have been trying to do something like iPS cells,” referring to another form of stem cell developed from mice cells in 2006 by Nobel Prize-winning scientist Shinya Yamanaka of Kyoto University.
“It must have been frustrating (for Riken),” the professor said, adding that that sense of frustration may have prompted Riken to come up with the STAP cell project instead.
“Trust in the overall research in Japan has been significantly impaired,” said Michiharu Nakamura, president of the Japan Science and Technology Agency, which distributes the government research fund.
“Life science is a field that is rapidly growing. However, are not ethics and guidance over research being put on the back burner?” he said.（End）
私の身近にも、葬儀で自分の親の火葬中に、「政治力のある教授について、当たれば研究費がもらえる」と抜かしていた奴がいた。しかも、年上の私に向かって、勝ち誇ったように（お前、バカか）という雰囲気を漂わせて勝利顔で睨み付けた。研究所勤務だった主人と後で言っていたのは、「研究って、当たれば、じゃないでしょう？」ということ。「あれは税金泥棒だな」「本当の研究者向きじゃないな」と。
日常会話は英語でできるけれども、専門は英語で話せないとも言っていた（http://d.hatena.ne.jp/itunalily/20130605）。私がびっくりしたのは、専門分野こそ、外国語で最も自由に気楽に話せるはずだからなのだ。当意即妙の日常会話の方が、自分の母語でも案外に難しい。一体全体、どういう低い知的レベルなのだろうか？教養というものが、およそ欠けているのではないだろうか？
しかし、その配偶者も配偶者で、その勝利顔のことを「素晴らしい人です」「全てが素晴らしいです」と歯の浮くように初対面の私に言って呆れさせた。しかも、長く伸ばした爪を派手な模様に塗りたくって、下品そのものだった。ケーキばかり突っついて、ろくな会話もできずに、ムシャムシャと食べていた。その上、こちらの都合を全く聞かずに、結婚は本人同士だから、自分達の都合で何でも決めて当然だというとんでもない態度だった。だからこそ、父が後でわざわざ電話をかけてきて、「あの子、駄目だなぁ」と言ったのだ（http://d.hatena.ne.jp/itunalily/20131002）。全く、気づくのが遅いのだが（http://d.hatena.ne.jp/itunalily/20140128）。
そういえば、しばらく前のやはり葬儀中に、マレーシアで仕事をしていたからと言って、私を見る度毎に「オラン・マレーシア、オラン・マレーシア」と何度も見下げるように言って来たおじさんがいた。私は日本人だ。マレーシアの人達に失礼ではないか！（http://d.hatena.ne.jp/itunalily/20140319）
その日のこと、火葬場で隣をふと見たら、身寄りが一人もいないらしい棺桶が、二人の市職員に文字通り放り投げ込まれていた。（私も将来、ああいう風になるんだろうな）と、ふと思った。でも、その方が気楽でいいかもしれない。晩年になったら、役場に必要なお金を渡して、「誰も看取る人がいないので、ご迷惑かけますが、よろしくお願いします」と頭を下げて、お世話になるのだ。存在そのものが邪魔だとばかりに、またもや放り投げられることだろうが、それが最も自分にふさわしいあり方かもしれない。幼稚園の頃、ある夢（「ここで待っていなさい」という口約束を大真面目に守って一人だけ取り残された光景）を見て以来ずっと、それほどの覚悟を決めて、日々を生きている。
昨日、卒業大学の同窓会会報を読んでいたら、外国語学習のために「五億円獲得」したのだと書いてあった。あまりの幼稚さに、またもや意気消沈した。一体全体、どこまであさましくなるのだろうか？だんだん、この世の中が嫌になってくる。鼻息の荒い、礼儀知らずで水準の低い奴が、平気でのさばっているからだ。のさばるだけならば、それにも生きる権利があるのだろうが、何もしていないのに、こちらの足を引っ張ってあしざまに蹴り倒すから、嫌なのだ。
芥川龍之介の小説を読んだ三十年前の今頃を思い出す。あの頃は、この先もっと歳を取れば、自分にとって刺激的な充実した世の中が待っているものだと期待していたのだが。
