A Harvard Medical School scientist working on a ground breaking cancer detection microscope has been detained by US immigration officers and faces possible deportation. Kseniia Petrova, 30, who is from Russia, was arrested at Boston Logan International Airport in mid-February and is being held at a correctional center in Monroe, Louisiana.

Petrova was returning from Paris and following a French lab professor’s request to bring back frog embryos to Harvard for a collaboration, her lawyer, Gregory Romanovsky, told Fox News. She did not know that she needed to claim them at customs, he said. On Tuesday, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) wrote on X that Petrova ‘was lawfully detained after lying to federal officers about carrying substances into the country'.

Authorities with K9s found vials of embryotic frog cells, undeclared petri dishes and containers with unidentified substances without proper permits, according to the DHS. ‘Messages found on her phone revealed she planned to smuggle the materials through customs without declaring them,’ wrote the agency. ‘She knowingly broke the law and took deliberate steps to evade it.’ The bioinformatician at Harvard Medical School’s Kirschner Lab had her J-1 scholar visa canceled by US Customs and Border Protection, instead of just having her items seized and receiving a fine, Romanovsky said.

Petrova was seeking asylum after having been detained in her home country for participating in protests against the war on Ukraine. ‘She faces the threat of immediate arrest due to her prior political activism and outspoken opposition to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine,’ said Romanovsky. Petrova developed computer scripts to read images off the microscope designed to help with early cancer detection. NBC News reported that she is the only scientist who can fully extract the microscope’s potential, and that further advancements around it could be jeopardized.

https://www.msn.com/en-my/news/other/top-sc...73b1becf8&ei=52

Fuuu shes a genius

nowadays the ICE agent just need to suspect u of something to throw u into a jail in el salvador. don't even need evidence

Not so when a simple declaration and collection was not done. Its always the small things that spoils an almost perfect world.

The ppl at harvard that is doing collaboration with french lab prof throw her under the bus?

there's a meme that say never get on a plane with anybody that say he/she found a cure for cancer


that plane is about to crash

This post has been edited by MR_alien: Apr 24 2025, 10:24 AM

US becoming North Korea

hard to tell who is the villain.

After all... some countries good in sneaking in spies /industrial espionage masquerading as scientists and researchers.

This post has been edited by alanyuppie: Apr 24 2025, 10:51 AM

She did not use a burner phone ka? Aiyooo

MAGA lol

go to China, they will have a lab ready for her in no time

I though the uni is supposed to handle these type of courier/customs declaration. why no follow proper channel?

explain plz

how is enforcing border/customs control is equivalent to becoming NK

Canadian actress also kena detained for 12 days by ICE

Canadian Who Was in an ‘American Pie’ Video Says ICE Held Her for 12 Days
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/03/18/us/moone...ctress-ice.html

If Nazis, already send them to concentration camp. This is humane. America democracy ideals.

and she said she was lucky. got ppl in there was in prison for months

she can always seek asylum in EU.

Sure want her one.

why don't she just offer the officer special service to get rid of this trouble? I researched her drillz before.

Can malaysia apply and provide asylum to her please?

that 2 german backpackers consider lucky already, only stay one night in jail

Bright future she has, I'm sure kena fired already and all the background related to Havard has been erased