Researchers in Japan have failed to replicate an experiment that claimed to have quickly grown stem cells, leading to conclusions the original experiment could have been faked.

Riken, Japan's most prestigious research insittute that sponsored the supposed game-changing research, conducted an independent study last April to verify the study published by Dr. Haruko Obokata and her team of scientists earlier this year.

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Dr. Obokata's team said they were able to produce stem-cell like cells called Stimulus-Triggered Acquisition of Pluripotency (STAP) cells. These cells were developed by exposing ordinary cells to different stresses that made them pluripotent, or having the ability to develop into any kind of tissue.

This capability would supposedly help re-program adult cells to change into stem cells. Manufacturable stem cells could help meet the need for transplant tissues or even organs in the future.

But despite the excitement over the findings, there was doubt over the results of the study.

"Researchers have conducted 22 experiments thus far, but we could not confirm the emergence of cells in the conditions described in (Obokata's) papers," Riken announced this Wednesday.

Riken's researchers will continue trying to find a way to replicate the experiments with vital methods based on data obtained by Dr. Obokata herself.

Since July, Dr. Obokata has been attempting to replicate the experiments with independent groups. Attempts at replication have not been successful.

The science journal Nature withdrew the study after Obokata agreed in June to retract the papers. Nature said the study had many flaws and inaccurate data.

In early August, Obokata's co-author, respected embryonic stem cell scientist and expert Dr. Yoshiki Sasai, took his own life after the retraction of the study. He was 53 when he hung himself.

Upon the discovery of his death, Riken president and Nobel laureate Ryoji Noyori said that Sasai was "invaluable to the global scientific community."