IU Bio Lab Closed

BLOOMINGTON, Ind. (WOWO) — A biology lab on Indiana University’s campus in Bloomington was closed following unspecified activity by the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA).

“Rooms 302, 319, 309, 315, 316, and 062 in Myers Hall will be closed while that activity is underway,” IU Vice President for Research Russ Mumper wrote in a letter to the university’s biology department. “The actions taking place are being directed by federal authorities, and the university is cooperating as required.”

However, Mumper did not say what exactly the USDA is conducting in the lab.

Department sources say the USDA reached out to IU’s legal office last Thursday to secure the rooms, and the locks on the doors have since been changed. At least one of the rooms closed off belongs to Distinguished Professor Roger Innes, whose lab was at the center of a federal smuggling probe.

In that case, postdoc Youhuang Xiang pleaded guilty in April to smuggling E. coli-derived DNA into the U.S. from China by hiding it in packages labeled as women’s underwear. It is unclear whether this latest action involving the IU biology department is tied to Xiang’s charges.

Mumper stated that the university will notify faculty and staff once they are permitted to return to the rooms.

“We continue to expect all members of our community to follow university policy and applicable state and federal laws in the conduct of research,” Mumper wrote.

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