Lawyers say plea deal is being pursued for Chinese scientist charged in US toxic fungus case

DETROIT (AP) — Lawyers for a Chinese scientist charged with conspiring to nurse a toxic fungus at a University of Michigan lab already are in talks to try to resolve the case, according to a court document filed Tuesday.

“The parties are currently engaged in plea negotiations and request this additional time so that they can continue engaging in plea negotiations,” a prosecutor and defense attorneys said in a joint filing.

Yunqing Jian, 33, was a researcher at the University of Michigan when she was arrested on June 3. She’s accused of helping her boyfriend, another Chinese scientist, try to work with a pathogen known as Fusarium graminearum, which can attack wheat, barley, maize and rice.

Zunyong Liu, 34, was was turned away at the Detroit airport in July 2024 and sent back to China after red plant material was discovered in his backpack, the FBI said.

After first denying it, Liu acknowledged that he was carrying different strains of Fusarium graminearum, investigators said.

The university had no federal permits to work with the material.

Jian’s Boston-based lawyers have declined to comment. She remains in custody without bond.

Federal authorities say the case presents national security concerns, though they have not alleged that the scientists had a plan to unleash the fungus. Fusarium graminearum is already prevalent in the U.S., and scientists have been studying it for decades.

Jian was a postdoctoral scholar at Zhejiang University in Hangzhou, China, before being granted a visa to conduct research at a Texas university. She has been working in Michigan since summer 2023.

Separately, another scientist headed to the University of Michigan was arrested June 8 at Detroit Metropolitan Airport after arriving on a flight from China. She is charged with shipping biological material to the U.S. without a permit. The material is related to worms.