South Korean Stem Cell Scandal Continues.

As prosecutors continue their investigation, disgraced South Korean stem cell researcher Hwang Woo-suk has been dismissed from his university professorship, stripped of his "Supreme Scientist" title, and banned from conducting any further research with stem cells.

Hwang achieved celebrity status after publishing two reports in the prestigious journal Science in 2004 and 2005, claiming that he cloned the first human embryo and extracted viable stem cell lines. Hwang's papers also purported to show the first cloned human stem cell lines that genetically matched the donors.

These reports were shown to be fraudulent after DNA tests showed that the stem cell lines were not created from cloned embryos, Korea Times reported.

However, Hwang is trying to resuscitate his image by touting investigators' conclusions that he did clone a dog. He also contends that at least one of the debunked cell lines were truly cloned but were damaged on purpose or by accident, according to Yonhap.

But Hwang conceded to prosecutors that other claims he made in the Science reports are false. "Hwang was admitting that he directed Kwon Dae-kee, a senior researcher at his laboratory, to manipulate samples for DNA testing of stem cell lines numbers 4-11 in connection with Hwang's 2005 paper," a prosecution official told Yonhap.

And despite Hwang's attempts to rehabilitate his reputation, South Korean government and academic officials have removed the financial support and honors they gave him. The Ministry of Science and Technology took away Hwang's title of "Supreme Scientist" March 22.

The title was granted after ...