「ＳＴＡＰ細胞はあります」と断言した同年４月９日の会見の裏側も告白。会見３日前に体調不良で入院。会見に備えて、病院の美容院で髪を切ってもらっている最中、美容師が気遣いから週刊誌を渡してくれたが、精神的にも衰弱していた小保方氏は自身の写真が載った表紙を見て気絶したという。 <----------------- w w w
Interview with Dr. Teru Wakayama on STAP stem cells Posted on February 27, 2014 by admin
1. How did the STAP stem cell collaboration begin between the Vacanti lab and your group? What made you decide to team up with them? Can you please tell us more about the beginnings of this research?
Teru: Dr. Kojima (Vacanti’s lab) contacted me by e-mail to help with chimera experiments. At that time, the project looks very much impossible. That’s why I accepted. I like such impossible experiments.
First time, Dr. Obokata brought strange cells, and there was no chimera after blastocyst injection. However, nearly 2 year later, Dr. Obokata found a very good method to generate STAP cell. Then, we could obtain good chimera.
2. Have you talked to Drs. Vacanti and Obokata recently? How did that talk go? If they are not talking, why is that so?
Teru: I have not talked to Dr. Vacanti.I had a talk with Dr. Obokata, but in Japan, the main problem is, not reproducibility, it is the mistakes of picture or band. Now RIKEN and outside people investigate that problem. But she said that in her lab, she can create STAP cell.
3. What is your own level of confidence in STAP cells at this point? Are you getting more concerned?
Teru: Before I left RIKEN, I succeeded to make STAP cell from spleen. But only 1 time. At that time, Dr. Obokata taught me very well.Now, some of my friends (not Japan) sent me e-mails, which, reported partial success (Oct expression only). Therefore I believe that within one year, someone will publish about STAP generation.
4. Like most people, I am convinced that the mouse studies on STAP are solid and convincing. You personally have a top-notch reputation as a scientist around the world. People are instead more specifically concerned about the STAP stem cells themselves. One of the most common questions I am getting asked at this point is this *could the STAP cells have been contaminated with either mESCs or mouse iPS cells? Is that possible? How might that have happened?
Teru: Thank you for your comment. I established STAP-SC several times from STAP. It is unlikely that contamination would always have happened. In addition, we established STAP-SC from 129B6GFP mice. At that time, we did not have this strain ES cell. When I succeeded to establish STAP-SC, the original STAP cells expressed Oct4-GFP very much. In this condition, the establishment is much easier than ES cell establishment from blastocyst. In addition, whole mRNA expression data suggest that STAP-SC are not ES cell.
▽関連 -- The New Yorker
The Stress Test -------- Rivalries, intrigue, and fraud in the world of stem-cell research.
By Dana Goodyear ttp://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2016/02/29/the-stem-cell-scandal
