Korean panel deals knockout blow to stem cell man

SEOUL, Thursday (Reuters) - A South Korean panel dealt a knockout blow to disgraced scientist Hwang Woo-suk on Thursday, concluding that his once-celebrated team provided no data to prove a claim they had produced tailored embryonic stem cells.

The findings were another mark of disgrace for a man once heralded as a national hero for his pioneering work on stem cell and cloning research, who now faces possible criminal charges.

"It is the panel's judgment that Professor Hwang's team does not have the scientific data to prove that they (patient-specific stem cells) were made," said Roe Jung-hye, chief of Seoul National University's research office.

The same investigation panel said last week that a 2005 paper produced by Hwang's team contained data that was intentionally fabricated and had undermined the fundamentals of science.

It said the team may have produced only two stem cell lines, not 11 as the authors of the landmark paper had claimed.

Roe told reporters on Thursday the final two lines that could have proven the fundamental findings of Hwang's team were not produced in Hwang's lab, but instead at a Seoul hospital.

"The findings of three labs showed the number two and number three stem cell lines that needed confirmation with regard to the 2005 paper did not match with patient tissue cells and were found to be fertilised-egg stem cells of MizMedi Hospital," Roe said.

The news sent biotech shares lower on the Seoul bourse. The investigating panel has asked three laboratories to conduct DNA testing on cells that were part of work by Hwang's team to see if they were stem cell lines with DNA that matches that of the donors.

Prosecutors have said Hwang could face a criminal probe for misappropriation of state funds if his work is proved fraudulent.

Hwang resigned from his post at the university last week and apologised for the scandal. But he has insisted that patient-tailored embryonic stem cells are South Korean technology and it would be confirmed.

"We believed that although the thesis may have been fabricated, there would at least be some hope that it was a new Korean technology.

The announcement today drove all those hopes away and has made me feel emotionally drained," said Oh Il-hwan, Catholic University Medical school professor in Seoul.

The panel is also testing the veracity of other work by Hwang's team, including a 2004 paper on producing the first cloned human embryos for research and a claim that it produced the world's first cloned dog - an Afghan hound named Snuppy.