By ED WHITE

DETROIT (AP) — A Chinese scientist charged in Michigan with smuggling biological materials pleaded guilty Wednesday but was given no additional time in jail beyond the five months she already spent in custody.

Yunqing Jian, who was a temporary researcher at a University of Michigan lab, will be released and quickly deported. A judge called it a “very strange” case involving an “incredibly accomplished researcher.”

Jian, 33, was arrested in June and accused of conspiring with a boyfriend to study and nurse a toxic fungus at a campus lab. A pathogen known as Fusarium graminearum can attack wheat, barley, maize and rice. Zunyong Liu was caught carrying small samples while arriving at a Detroit airport in 2024.

In China, Jian and Liu specialized in studying Fusarium gramine

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