Chinese Researcher Gets Time Served for Lying About Taking Research Materials From Harvard

An emergency room nurse walks through the Clinical Decision Unit at the newly-opened Berenson Emergency Department at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Boston on July 16, 2001. Darren McCollester/Getty Images

A Chinese medical researcher flew back to China after he was sentenced to the time he spent in U.S. custody.

Zheng Zaosong, 31, came to the United States on a J-1 visa in August 2018 and conducted cancer cell research at Harvard University’s Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Boston. He was arrested on Dec. 10, 2019 at Boston’s Logan International Airport, where he was found with 21 vials containing biological materials in his luggage. He lied and answered “no” when asked by federal officers whether he was traveling with any biological items.