LANSING, Mich. (WLNS) -- Three researchers at the University of Michigan were charged with conspiring to smuggle biological materials into the United States Wednesday, the latest of several similar cases involving researchers at U-M.

Xu Bai, 28; Fengfan Zhang, 27; and Zhiyong Zhang, 30, all Chinese nationals, were researchers holding J-1 visas conducting research at the U-M laboratory of Xianzhong Xu, also known as the Shawn Xu laboratory.

Prosecutors claim that over the past two years, Bai and Fengfan had received multiple shipments containing concealed biological materials related to roundworms. Those shipments had been sent from China to the United States by Chengxuan Han.

Han was pursuing a Ph.D. from Huazhong University of Science and Technology in Wuhan, China at the time, and cam

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