"The STAP-Cell Scandal: A Journalist’s Perspective" Momoko Suda

Seminar Abstract

The STAP cell scandal involving Riken that broke in the spring of 2014 was a loud wake-up call. The Japanese research community is now facing the challenge of regaining public trust. How can we achieve this? One way to figure out how we can build a better research environment and an organizational structure that is resistant to research misconduct is to learn from the past. Ms. Momoko Suda, science reporter from the Mainichi Shimbun and award-winning author of Netsuzo no Kagakusha (Fraudulent Scientists), will discuss the STAP cell scandal in detail, from the very beginning right up to the present day, including behind-the-scenes insights.

Momoko Suda: Biosketch

Momoko Suda is a science reporter from the Science Environment Division at the Tokyo Head Office of Mainichi Shimbun Newspapers. She was born in 1975 in Chiba Prefecture, Japan. She earned her Master’s Degree in Physics at the Graduate School of Science and Engineering, Waseda University, before joining the newspaper company in April 2001. After serving at the Mito branch in Ibaraki Prefecture, she was appointed to her current position in 2006, where she is in charge of covering topics such as assisted reproductive medicine, life sciences and the Nobel Prize. Her track record includes reporting on iPS cells, from the development stage in 2006, to 2012 when Professor Shinya Yamanaka of Kyoto University was awarded the Nobel Prize. When the discovery of STAP cells was first announced she reported it as a positive development, having put her faith in Riken’s claim that it was the “discovery of the century.” As doubts started to arise over the authenticity of the research, her insights and personal sources quickly made her a frontrunner in the media coverage, and she released a number of exclusive reports. In 2015, she was awarded the 46th Oya Souichi Non-Fiction Award and the Science Journalist Award in 2015 for her book Netsuzo no Kagakusha (Fraudulent Scientists) that portrayed events surrounding her coverage of the STAP cell scandal.

Sponsorship

This seminar on responsible research conduct is sponsored by the Office of the Dean of Research, the Occupational Health and Safety Section, and the Communications and Public Relations Division.