OHSU’S BREAKTHROUGH HEARD ROUND THE WORLD

 
Imagine spending months preparing for an extravagant wedding with hundreds of guests and then being told that you need to hold the event a week early and immediately. This is how OHSU researcher Shoukhrat Mitalipov, Ph.D., may have felt when he awoke one cold November morning to learn that his work was being heralded as one of the biggest science breakthroughs of the year in an announcement that came a week earlier than expected.

You might be familiar with the research: the first successful reprogramming of skin cells into embryonic stem cells. The news broke on the morning of November 14 and within hours, it spread like wildfire. Mitalipov, a scientist at the Oregon National Primate Research Center,  was suddenly taking calls from the BBC, CNN, the New York Times, USA Today and CBS news. Every time Mitalipov hung up the phone, it immediately began to ring again.

In the middle of all this activity, a press conference was quickly arranged so that local reporters could talk to the scientist behind the breakthrough. This also gave reporters an opportunity to obtain video of the delicate, microscopic cell manipulation that resulted in such a huge success.

So why was Mitalipov surprised by the timing?

The work had originally been slated to be published in the journal Nature in late November. As many OHSU researchers are all too aware, science journals are known for their strict policies regarding the early release of information and the penalties for reporters who break these policies. However despite these extensive measures, the story began trickle out a little early. A few days prior to the surprise announcement on the 14th, a newspaper in the U.K. issued a story vaguely describing a breakthrough.

Over the following days other newspapers started to report pieces of the news. The situation started to snowball. Finally, Nature alerted Mitalipov that they could wait no longer. The story needed to be told in its entirety. Representatives from Nature and OHSU alerted the press and the reporter calls and emails came immediately.

Being at the center of a media storm has its interesting moments. For example: a phone conference with respected science reporters from around the globe and interviews with CBS and NBC news. Mitalipov also took part in late night calls to organize satellite interviews in the wee hours of the morning so that morning TV news viewers on the East Coast could hear the news from the scientist himself. (Note: CNN’s late night logistics efforts failed, but the story was reported nonetheless)

In the aftermath, more than 700 stories were written or broadcast. OHSU’s breakthrough, along with human studies conducted in Wisconsin and Japan, has been deemed the number one science breakthrough of the year by TIME Magazine. The journal Nature has also placed the breakthrough on its top ten list.

“I guess that’s just part of science,” said Mitalipov when asked about the experience. “What we do is for the public and it is funded by the public. I feel we have an obligation to share the results of that we do. It’s part of the responsibility that comes with the job.”