A Japanese scientist who claimed a major breakthrough in stem cell research has resigned after the government lab where she worked could not replicate her results.
Haruko Obokata said in a statement Friday that she was leaving the Riken Center for Developmental Biology after the lab concluded the stem cells she said she had created probably never existed.
Rather than admit to fraud, Obokata said she was exhausted and "extremely perplexed" that her research could not be duplicated.
She had initially been praised for leading the research that raised hopes for discovery of a simple way to grow replacement tissue.