鈥淲E HAVE no reason to doubt Schatten鈥檚 statement to us that his major contribution to the paper was a suggestion that a professional photographer be engaged, so that Snuppy would appear with greater visual appeal. It is less clear that this contribution fully justifies co-authorship.鈥�
With this scathing remark, the reputation of US stem cell biologist Gerald Schatten takes a pounding at the hands of the committee set up to investigate Schatten鈥檚 association with disgraced cloning researcher Woo Suk Hwang. Schatten had contributed to a Nature paper with Hwang describing the creation of Snuppy, the world鈥檚 first cloned dog.
He also helped Hwang write a 2005 paper in Science describing 11 lines of cloned human embryonic stem cells, research that has been proved fraudulent. As Schatten didn鈥檛 perform this work, the report released on 10 February rejects charges of misconduct, but it does say Schatten shirked his responsibility to verify the data, having teamed up with Hwang in part to further his own reputation.
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The investigative panel, made up mostly of Schatten鈥檚 fellow academics at the University of Pittsburgh, also queries payments made by Hwang to Schatten totalling $40,000, which seem 鈥渇ar above normal honoraria for consultation鈥�. These include $10,000 cash paid when Schatten appeared at a press conference.
鈥淧ayments totalling $40,000 鈥榮eem far above the normal honoraria for consultation鈥欌��
Schatten has not commented on the report. But Evan Snyder, a stem cell researcher at the Burnham Institute in La Jolla, California, who has spoken with Schatten in recent weeks, says Schatten is 鈥渒icking himself鈥� for being too trusting. Snyder suggests that Schatten can restore his reputation by publishing new, reliable results of his own.
