Results of an attempt to reproduce the STAP phenomenon

Postnatal Pluripotent Cells: Quarter of a Century of Research

Almost quarter of a century long studies aimed at identification, isolation, culturing, and use of postnatal pluripotent cells for the development of cell-based technologies have not met with success and failed to provide reliable and reproducible protocols of cell isolation, identification, and culturing. At the same time, experimental data in this field suggest that postnatal pluripotent cells are not the copies of embryonic cells and, therefore, the tests routinely used for identification of embryonic pluripotent cells are not fully adequate for characterization of their postnatal analogues. Therefore, cell lineage tracing methods showing the differentiation routes of the studied cells in human or animal body after birth should be developed and used.

Recent developments in scholarly publishing to improve research practices in the life sciences

We outline recent developments in scholarly publishing that we think will improve the working environment and career prospects for life scientists. Most prominently, we discuss two key developments. (1) Life scientists are now embracing a preprint culture leading to rapid dissemination of research findings. (2) We outline steps to overcome the reproducibility crisis. We also briefly describe other innovations in scholarly publishing, along with changes to open access mandates from funding agencies.

When the research is not reproducible: the importance of author-initiated and institution-driven responses and investigations

Important and potentially useful findings in the sciences are under more intense public scrutiny now more than ever. Other researchers in the field dive into replicating and expanding the findings while the media swamps the community and the public with peripheral reporting and analyses. How should authors and the hosting/funding institutions respond when other workers in the field could not reproduce or replicate their published results? To illustrate the importance of author-initiated and institution-driven investigations in response to outcries of research irreproducibility, I draw on comparisons between three recent and well-publicized cases in the life sciences: betatrophin, Stimulus-Triggered Acquisition of Pluripotency (STAP) cells, and Natronobacterium gregoryi Argonaute (NgAgo). Swift, transparent responses and investigations facilitate activation of the self-correcting mechanism of science and are likely also critical in preserving the community's resources, public trust, and the reputation of the institutions and individuals concerned. Operational guidelines for "author and institutional responses" towards external reports of irreproducibility should therefore be in place for all research intensive institutions.

Results of an attempt to reproduce the STAP phenomenon

In 2014, Obokata and colleagues reported their observation of a novel cell reprogramming phenomenon they named ‘stimulus-triggered acquisition of pluripotency’ (STAP). The most conclusive evidence for the pluripotency of so-called STAP cells was the purported ability of such cells to contribute to chimera formation. Here, I report the results of an attempt by Haruko Obokata to replicate the phenomenon under the supervision of the Scientific Validity Examination Team of RIKEN. In this follow-up study, putative STAP cells prepared by Haruko Obokata were injected into 1051 embryos, of which 591 were recovered. However, the injected cells made no significant contribution in any of the embryos that developed.