Stem cell fraudster accidentally created first 'virgin conception'

A South Korean stem-cell scientist who two years ago was written off as a fraud for faking research has emerged as the unlikely pioneer of an unprecedented scientific version of "virgin birth" - by accident.

Hwang Woo-Suk was found in a 2005 documentary to have conducted cloning experiments using eggs donated by junior staff in his own laboratory, and fabricated the results data. He was charged with fraud and embezzling money from those who funded his research, forcing him to resign in disgrace.

However, according to a US study into his work published last night, the professor inadvertently created cells that were derived by "parthenogenesis", a method by which unfertilised eggs start to divide to form embryos asexually.

Parthenogenesis derives from the Greek for "virgin birth", and is the means of reproduction among all fungi and many plants and animals, including lizards, bees and some fish.

Researchers at the Harvard University Stem Cell Institute and Children's Hospital Boston Stem Cell Program believe the dismissed scientist may have stumbled across the discovery without noticing it.

"What is so interesting is they did this by mistake," said Dr George Daley, whose analysis appears in the journal Cell Stem Cell. "They didn't really know what they had. If they had identified this as a parthenogenetic stem cell... it would have been very exciting."

Stem cells are master cells of the body, and while they occur throughout all tissues and organs, they are hard to grow. Embryonic stem cells can be made either from days-old embryos left over from fertility clinics or by using cloning technology - although no researchers have succeeded yet in cloning a human embryo. Cloning is a process in which the nucleus of an egg is replaced by the nucleus from a cell in the body.

Parthenogenesis involves chemically tricking an egg into developing without being fertilised by sperm. Dr Daley's team has done this in mice, and he said researchers recently succeeded in humans. He and his colleagues have now devised a set of standards to analyse the DNA of embryonic stem cells that allows researchers to determine how they were made. They used this method to analyse the South Korean stem cell line. "We now know unequivocally that they are human parthenogenetic stem cells," he said.

Embryonic stem cells could one day be used to create tailor-made medical treatments and help under-stand diseases better. But human embryonic stem cell research is controversial. Opponents say destroying an embryo is tantamount to murder. But in 2004 Professor Hwang was a national hero when he claimed to have created stem cells from human embryos. He was awarded the title of Supreme Scientist and stamps were even distributed in his honour.