By Cho Jin-seo
Staff Reporter
DNA test results showed samples from Prof. Hwang Woo-seok’s laboratory matched the body cells of the patients, which could mean that Hwang’s team has partially succeeded in creating patient-tailored stem-cell lines, according to news reports.

Quoting unnamed sources at Seoul National University, which is conducting investigations, news cable channel YTN said that the results received from three separate agencies indicated that the five samples preserved frozen since March had identical DNA structures with the body cells. The cells, however, cannot be regarded as complete stem-cell lines because they can die before evolving into further stages.

The university refused to confirm the news.

The panel has been investigating whether Hwang ever created patient-tailored embryonic stem-cell lines as he claimed in a paper published in journal Science in May. On Friday, the panel said that it found Hwang had faked nine of 11 samples used in the Science article and that it would get complete test results for other samples this week.

The five samples were not included in the Science article, as it was made after the submission of the paper in March, according to the panel. Hwang himself insisted in a press conference on Dec. 16 that the five samples will prove the presence of so-called ``source technology’’ of human stem cell cloning, even though he did fake other samples.

The final report on the authenticity of Hwang’s research will be delayed until next month as the panel has yet to receive all necessary information from DNA test agencies. It also said on Tuesday that it commissioned more samples used in Hwang’s 2004 Science article for DNA tests.

Meanwhile, the panel also said that researcher Kim Sun-jong received $30,000 from Hwang’s colleagues Prof. Ahn Curie and Prof. Yoon Hyun-soo while he was in the United States, raising suspicions whether Hwang tried to bribe Kim.

Yoon said that Hwang asked him to give $20,000 to Kim on Nov. 15 after the scandal broke out. Then Ahn handed over another $10,000 to Kim’s father on Dec. 2, right after Kim had an interview with YTN in which he defended Hwang. Kim returned all $30,000 to the university, the panel said.

The case may make Yoon vulnerable to a charge of violating the foreign exchange control law. Under the current system, travelers have to report to the customs when carrying more than $10,000 out of the nation.

Kim is suspected of having been involved in fabricating the data of the stem-cell lines. He has also been accused by Hwang of swapping the stem cells used in the research without notifying the professor.

indizio@koreatimes.co.kr