Japanese scientist Haruko Obokata, who led researchers reporting that dipping adult cells in acid could change them into stem cells, has agreed to retract one of the Jan. 30 Nature papers describing the result, according to newsreports.
Questions about figures in the papers and the technique were first raised in February, and Japan’s RIKEN Center for Developmental Biology, where Obokata works, found her guilty of scientific misconduct in April.
Two of Obokata’s ten coauthors have also reportedly agreed to retract the paper. Nature usually requires consent from all authors to retract a paper and is conducting its own evaluation of the work.
