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US arrests Chinese researcher over stolen cancer samples

The arrest of a Chinese researcher smuggling stolen cancer samples signifies an escalation in FBI efforts to root out the theft of research from American laboratories.

Zaosong Zheng was preparing to board Hainan Airlines Flight 482, non-stop from Boston to Beijing, when customs officers pulled him aside. According to a report in The New York Times, inside his checked luggage, wrapped in a plastic bag and then inserted into a sock, the officers found what they were looking for: 21 vials of brown liquid cancer cells – that the authorities say Zheng, a cancer researcher, took from a laboratory at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Centre.

Under questioning, court documents say, Zheng acknowledged that he had stolen eight of the samples and had replicated 11 more based on a colleague’s research. When he returned to China, he said, he would take the samples to Sun Yat-sen Memorial Hospital and turbocharge his career by publishing the results in China, under his own name.

The report says Zheng’s arrest signified an escalation in the FBI’s efforts to root out scientists who, the authorities say, are stealing research from American laboratories. Federal prosecutors warn that he may be charged with transporting stolen goods or with the theft of trade secrets, a felony that brings a prison term of up to 10 years.

[link url="https://www.nytimes.com/2019/12/31/us/chinese-scientist-cancer-research-investigation.html?nl=todaysheadlines&emc=edit_th_200101?campaign_id=2&instance_id=14850&segment_id=19969&user_id=c3d9778832e13a8ee81a16ebe4996cb9®i_id=425053800101"]The New York Times report (Registration required)[/link]

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