Emory Researchers Removed After Failing to Disclose Chinese Funding

This marks the second known instance in which an institution has acted on NIH’s concern about foreign influence over US-based researchers.

Written byCatherine Offord

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ABOVE: WIKIMEDIA, DANIEL MAYER

Update (May 27): Li Xiao-Jiang is disputing the charges against him and his wife Li Shihua, Science reported on Friday (May 24). Emory University dismissed the two researchers “without any notice or opportunity for us to respond to unverified accusations,” he tells the publication, adding that he is concerned for members of his lab after four Chinese nationals working there as postdocs were told to leave the US within 30 days. Emory did not respond to Science’s request for more information.

Two researchers have been forced to leave their posts at Emory University after it emerged that they had not disclosed funds they had received from Chinese sources, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported yesterday (May 23). The removal of the pair, who have been identified by Chinese media as National Institutes of Health (NIH)–funded geneticists Li Xiao-Jiang and Li Shihua, according to Science, marks the second known ...

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Meet the Author

Catherine Offord
After undergraduate research with spiders at the University of Oxford and graduate research with ants at Princeton University, Catherine left arthropods and academia to become a science journalist. She has worked in various guises at The Scientist since 2016. As Senior Editor, she wrote articles for the online and print publications, and edited the magazine’s Notebook, Careers, and Bio Business sections. She reports on subjects ranging from cellular and molecular biology to research misconduct and science policy. Find more of her work at her website.
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