A Harvard University medical team has confirmed that stem cell lines said to have been cloned by disgraced Korean scientist Hwang Woo-suk were not created through somatic cell nuclear transfer (SCNT).

But, in what appears to be a scientific first, the team says the stem cell lines were created through parthenogenesis, or "virgin birth," a process that is more efficient in generating embryos and embryonic stem cell lines.

Hwang had originally claimed in a 2004 study published in the magazine Science that his team had created patient-specific stem cell lines through SCNT, but his research was later discredited when a Korean investigative commitee ruled that some of his data had been faked.

The team led by Dr. Kim Ki-tai published their findings in an international journal, suggesting that Hwang's number one stem cell line, or the NT-One, is the result of parthenogenesis and not somatic cell nuclear transfer.

The team's verification study, the first in the global academic arena, echoes a finding by a Seoul National University committee earlier last year, which found that Hwang had not succeeded in SCNT. The committee said that the stem cells could have been created through parthenogenesis, but it was unable to test that hypothesis with methods then available.

The Harvard team's finding has been published in the Cell Stem Cell journal, newly launched Friday by the renowned magazine Cell.