A former MD Anderson Cancer Center researcher faces third-degree felony and misdemeanor charges for attempting to take research to China, according to an Aug. 25 statement from the Harris County District Attorney\u2019s Office.<\/p>\n
Yunhai Li, a Chinese researcher who had worked on breast cancer research at MD Anderson since 2022, was detained for inspection by U.S. Customs and Border Protection on July 9 when he attempted to leave the United States for China with research data, according to court documents. Li is charged with theft of trade secrets and tampering with a government record, according to the Harris County DA.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe have zero tolerance for any attempts that hurt our nation and our community\u2019s ability to pioneer critical medical breakthroughs,\u201d Houston District Attorney Sean Teare wrote in a statement. \u201cWe will continue to work relentlessly to protect the integrity of these vital organizations to make sure they can continue to lead the world in advancing critical medical care.\u201d<\/p>\n
While at MD Anderson, Li uploaded confidential research data to his personal Google Drive account outside of MD Anderson\u2019s network, according to court documents. Prosecutors note that MD Anderson security then became concerned Li planned to take the research back to China after he left MD Anderson, so Li deleted the information from his Google Drive. However, without informing MD Anderson personnel, Li uploaded the information to his Baidu account, a Chinese storage technology service similar to Google, according to court documents.<\/p>\n
Li wrote in a statement to the authorities that during his time at MD Anderson, he worked on National Institutes of Health-funded research to help prevent breast cancer. Li wrote he was concerned the NIH would not allow him to continue to possess the research and planned to take the research data with him back to China to continue pursuing his findings. Li added the research was \u201ca product of (his) efforts over the last three years\u201d and he had \u201ca right to possess and retain this data.\u201d<\/p>\n
Eddie Gomez, P.C., the law office representing Li, declined to comment.<\/p>\n
Before departing for China, Li deleted the research from his hard drive, but retained it on his Baidu account in an attempt to \u201cprevent unauthorized access\u201d if he lost his laptop and to \u201cprevent U.S. government officials from discovering that (he) was in possession of them,\u201d according to his statement.<\/p>\n
\u201cI know these research files are very sensitive and that I was not allowed to leave the U.S. with them,\u201d Li wrote.<\/p>\n
Li resigned from MD Anderson on July 1 and is no longer employed there, according to his statement. The investigation into Li is ongoing, and more charges may be filed in the future, according to the Harris County DA. Li had his bond revoked on Aug. 29 and awaits his next court date in October in Harris County.<\/p>\n
\u201cInstitutional leaders are working with relevant authorities on this matter,\u201d a spokesperson for MD Anderson wrote in a statement.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A former MD Anderson Cancer Center researcher faces third-degree felony and misdemeanor charges for attempting to take research…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":211934,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5130],"tags":[4345,358,3187],"class_list":{"0":"post-211933","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-houston","8":"tag-houston","9":"tag-texas","10":"tag-tx"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115172502648610426","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/211933","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=211933"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/211933\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/211934"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=211933"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=211933"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=211933"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}