The investigative panel of Seoul National University (SNU) has concluded that Hwang Woo-suk’s 2005 stem cell thesis published in the American journal Science had included deliberately misleading fabrications.

In announcing the interim results of its week-long investigation of Hwang’s work Friday morning, the panel said data analysis of the 2005 paper indicates errors were not made accidentally, but were fabricated by deliberately increasing findings referring to two stem cell lines to appear as if they referred to eleven.

The panel said even though the paper had reported a total of eleven patient-specific stem cell lines had been produced through cloning, investigators have found that only two stem cell lines No.2 and No. 3 existed as of March 15th, when the thesis was submitted to Science.

The panel said it also confirmed teratoma was formed only on the two lines, which discredits Hwang’s claim that he created three teratomas. Hwang's more recent statement was itself a reversal of his original claim of seven in the paper.

Whether the two stem cell lines are actually cloned cells will be determined after the panel’s DNA analysis results come out.

The SNU panel is also expected to conduct probes into the authenticity of Hwang’s 2004 thesis and his cloned puppy Snuppy.

The panel pointed out that Hwang’s data fabrication is serious in that it damages the very foundations of science, where authenticity counts more than anything else.