Haruko Obokata

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Haruko Obokata, born in 1983 in Matsudo, Japan, is a former stem-cell scientist who worked at Japan’s RIKEN research institute. In 2014 she claimed to have discovered STAP cells, a simple method to turn ordinary body cells into pluripotent cells that could become any tissue. The claim attracted worldwide attention because of its potential medical impact.

Shortly after, questions about her work arose. RIKEN’s investigation found misconduct, including manipulated images and the use of data from different experiments as if they were one. The two Nature papers describing STAP cells were retracted in 2014 after other scientists could not replicate the results.

Obokata had a strong academic background. She studied at Waseda University, earned degrees in applied chemistry, and worked at Harvard Medical School with Charles Vacanti. She later became head of the Lab for Cellular Reprogramming at RIKEN. In 2015, her doctoral degree from Waseda University was revoked amid plagiarism concerns related to her dissertation.

After the scandal, Obokata left RIKEN in December 2014. The case also involved others; her collaborator Yoshiki Sasai died by suicide in August 2014. Attempts to reproduce the STAP results failed, and the work could not be verified.

In later years Obokata published a book, Ano hi, in 2016, and wrote about the controversy in 2018.