An Indiana University (IU) Bloomington professor who sharply criticized the government’s recent prosecution of several Chinese scientists accused of smuggling biological materials into the United States has been barred by the university from entering his laboratory following a request from one of his federal sponsors.

Plant microbiologist Roger Innes says the move is another act of retaliation connected to a letter he wrote last fall on behalf of Yunqing Jian, a University of Michigan plant science postdoctoral researcher who pleaded guilty to smuggling biological material and making false statements. In the letter to Jian’s attorney, intended for use during sentencing, Innes argued that the material transported by the Chinese postdoc was not dangerous. Nevertheless, Jian was ultimately deported.

Her conviction triggered an investigation into Youhuang Xiang, a Chinese postdoctoral researcher from Innes’s laboratory. Last month, Xiang also pleaded guilty to smuggling DNA loops known as plasmids into the United States. He, too, was deported.

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