COUNTLESS research projects around the world into cancer and other major diseases are producing bogus or misleading results because investigators are studying the wrong type of cell.
The mistakes arise when fast-growing “rogue cells” contaminate cell cultures and swamp the correct cells. A team’s work on prostate cancer, for example, might turn out to be worthless because cells researchers thought were prostate cancer cells turn out to be cervical cancer cells.
Although the danger has been known about for decades, most researchers still fail to check the identity of the cells they are working with. And several new types of…
