The Biggest Fraud in Stem Cell History

In 2014, the world of science was shaken by an unprecedented fraud. So, what really happened to shatter the dreams of a Nobel Prize and became a dark chapter for stem cell research? This is the story of STAP cells.

Let’s set the scene. It’s the early 2000s. Japan has become a powerhouse in stem cell research. Stem cells are cells that form our bodies during development. Back in the day, stem cells could only be isolated from embryos. In 2006, Yamanaka and Takahashi demonstrated how we can make stem cells from skin cells. Through the introduction of 4 genes (oct4, sox2, klf4, c-myc) they converted skin cells into pluripotent stem cells. For this discovery, Yamanaka later won the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine.
Haruko Obokata was a japanese scientists who tried to develop another method to make stem cells. She teamed up with Charles Vacanti who theorized that stem cells can be made through stress. When Obokata bathed body cells in mild acid, she claimed to have produced stem cells. She refined this method and STAP cells were born. Later, they approached
Teruhiko Wakayama and Yoshiki Sasai. Both helped them and in 2013 "STAP Cells" were finally published. In the first weeks, STAP cells seemed like a huge success. But the scientific community soon discovered manipulations in the presented images. RIKEN, the institute where Obokata was hosted launched an internal investigation. They concluded that the STAP cell works have to be retracted and Obokata lost her position. RIKEN had to undergo reconstruction due to the lasting public outcry which ultimately affected everyone involved. Today, STAP cells are considered as one of the biggest scandals in stem cell research.

00:00-3:35 The Japanese Stem Cell Wonder
3:35-7:53 Fabricating the Discovery of the Century
7:53-13:10 How Everyone Found Out
13:10-15:37 The Devastating Aftermath

References:
Brilliant Article:
Other STAP Cell Stories:
More About Stem Cells:

Images:
Infected cells by Beachfront, CC-BY 3.0

About Clemens Steinek:
CLEMENS STEINEK is a PhD student/youtuber (Sciencerely) who is currently conducting stem cell research in Germany.

[beowulf]

We were forced to manipulate our results in research in highschool because the teacher wouldn't accept that in our research we found no results after the experiments, we wouldn't have a grade. It shows how deep this goes. Our society focuses on success and big headlines instead of experiments that serve to verify if something is true or not.

OMG 5k likes I did not expect that 😵

[kdbublitz]

This is why scientific rigor and scrutiny is important. We could have wasted decades of time and research if this wasn't caught, just like what happened with alzheimer research..

[RiceCake]

I work in regenerative research. While I remember the shock of learning about this fraud, the whole thing was caught fairly quickly and not a lot of scientists in the field believed the original publication in the first place. Scientific fraud like this ultimately damages the image, progress, and legitimacy of the field; but the biggest thing for me and for everyone really was Sasai's death. While going through grad school I read many great papers published by him and had profound respect for the scientists at Riken. This was a tragic loss of life and an unnecessary loss of great human potential.

[oxylepy]

This stuff always gets me. I understand the cutting edge, strong reputation, difficult to try to replicate lies in science, people can manage to get away with it for years. But... people are going to try to replicate your work, that's part of the whole process. If people can get to your level, they'll try to replicate it, then when they can't you're going to be called in on ethics

[ginnyjollykidd]

Science is not business. In business one can expect fruitful outcomes. In scientific research, fruitful results are often not possible. Sometimes, research produces null results that eliminate inaccurate hypotheses.

These results are as important as positive results, but they are often dismissed as not scientifically or publicly worthy.

But we should praise them for what they are: null results.

_The_ famous null result changed scientific understanding and is studied by every science student (or if it isn't, it should be): the Michelson-Morley result, that velocity of light does not change from the coming and going of the Earth around the sun.

[do]

4:25 "They heckled him"
Bro imagine getting roasted by PhD holders, while you're presenting your ideas and dreams 😭😭

[hautakleightontam]

From the Wikipedia article on Obokata:

*In a note to Vacanti, Sasai wrote that Obokata had discovered "a magic spell" that led to their experimental success, described later in The Guardian as "a surprisingly simple way of turning ordinary body cells…into something very much like embryonic stem cells" by soaking them in "a weak bath of citric acid."*

The moment you hear words like 'magic' and 'miraculous' in science, start sniffing! If magic is the product of mystery, a replicable process cannot stay mysterious nor magical.

[spacecate]

I watched this unfold in real time when I was in Japan! I was a middleschooler back then, I didn't understood fully what was going down, but this was all over the news and my science teacher talked about this in class. It's nice to see a video breaking down things coherently like this!

[TVtheTV]

I’m a biology student and if stress induced a change into pluripotent stem cells then we would see them in the sites of injury. If acid exposure does it, then we would see pluripotent stem cells in people with chronic stomach injuries and cancers. At least, that’s my guess. Either way, acid turning cells back into pluripotent stem cells is just a weird hypothesis to begin with.

[artemisia]

In my masters theorem my professors guided me in entirely different direction than my research was pointing. My teachers at school hated it when i questioned some of the things we learned even though i presented proof. We werent allowed to criticize books we had to read. This is a problem of entire system that we're supposed to manipulate our findings and opinions to fit one theory or another

[patternwhisperer]

Imagine we held politicians or even economic leaders half as accountable for misconduct as we do with scientists

[haleyw]

academia is so results focused that a lot of young talented scientists feel more pressure to get specific results than to figure out the truth. science takes both skill and luck, and we need to be doing more to recognize skill in emerging scientists regardless of their luck

[jasperism]

Calling it the biggest stem cell fraud is a bit too much - the South Korean incident involved big US government funding (bypassing Bush's restrictions), became a household national icon, and had involvement with officials in the highest echelons of South Korea's government.

[lifeline_]

I work in IT, and Ive found this:
You either stick in the field and get paid well from being a top programmer/architech/etc or you have really strong communication skills, are average at programming (at best), and made good connections.

Communication skills are important, but they can also lead to someone in a position that they don't have the skills to be in.

This is how I expect a lot of STEM fields work.

[burntgyoza]

I'm so thankful for my teacher. She told the students to make a presentation about something she choose. I decided to make a dramatic presentation about why I hate to talk about that topic. She gave me straight A. I didnt have to pretend that I like the topic or doing useless research to impress anyone. I hope many teachers are like that. Sometimes it's not about the result.

[victorkmlee]

A good research is a well conceived, prepared, constructed and run research that produce accurate consistent results, which can be negative or positive. Too much emphasis on publication and grants are based on 'positive results'. The temptation to commit fraud is strong because the stakes (losing grants, promotion and tenure) are just too high. There is also a temptation to push for many publications.

[JeanPaulBeaubier]

Even as a layperson I can't comprehend how stressing a cell by bathing it in acid would ever turn it into a stem cell rather than just killing it.

[FrdmCnsumd]

This is why I absolutely hate when people say “the science is settled” or “don’t question the science”. It was a huge thing over the COVID pandemic. Even some pubs in huge journals can have fabricated data. Always question science, and the best data will survive the questioning.

[XX-bnsf]

How did they think they would get away with that? It must have been clear to them that it was only a matter of time till the truth would come out.

[Molist]

I've just discovered your channel today, thanks so much for your videos :) I did my PhD in biochemistry and I can absolutely relate to the extreme anxiety related to results, etc.- not justifying what they did, though, but I am not surprised. Especially in societies as competitive as Japan and the US.