Northwestern University Professor Wu Ying Passes Away by Suicide, Previously Investigated by NIH and Expelled from Lab

Source: Global Science Research Circle

From Global Times, CC Intelligence Agency, South China Morning Post, and others

Global Times, citing the South China Morning Post on September 2, reported that Jane Y. Wu, a distinguished professor at Northwestern University's Feinberg School of Medicine, passed away by suicide on July 10 at her home in Chicago. Sources revealed that the renowned neuroscientist was under investigation by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and had her academic research rights revoked.

Wu was also known as the ex-wife of Rao Yi, a prominent scholar and president of Capital Medical University. A post on Rao Yi's personal public account "Rao's Science Discussion" on July 30 showed that on July 27, 2024, during the International Conference on Life Sciences held in Guiyang, Professor Yuan Junying presided over a memorial meeting for Professor Wu Ying, with 14 Chinese biologists speaking.

According to a report from "CC Intelligence Agency," a public account under Phoenix New Media, Wu was buried on July 17 at Rosehill Cemetery in Chicago.

Wu's recent work focused on post-transcriptional gene regulation, and her main academic achievements in mRNA splicing, molecular mechanisms of neurodegenerative diseases, and leukocyte migration are at the forefront of the current international biological community. The sudden passing of this outstanding Chinese scholar has attracted widespread attention in the academic world. The South China Morning Post reported that Wu was investigated by the NIH and expelled from the laboratory. The Global Times reported that Wu had previously served as a senior consultant researcher at the Institute of Biophysics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, but it is unclear whether this was the direct cause of the NIH investigation. A Chinese professor from Duke University told the media, "These investigations have ruined her career. She was such a dedicated scientist. Depriving her of the right to research was like depriving her of the most important thing in her life."

Furthermore, Northwestern University, where Wu worked, did not release any obituaries or statements and deleted all of her personal information pages within a week of her death. Some media speculate that Northwestern University and the NIH may have jointly conducted the investigation against Wu.

Born in 1963, Wu received her Bachelor of Medicine from Shanghai Medical University in 1986 and then went to the United States. She obtained her Ph.D. in tumor biology from Stanford University in 1991. After completing her postdoctoral training at Harvard University in 1994, she held positions as assistant professor, associate professor, and professor at Washington University in St. Louis and Vanderbilt University. She has been teaching at Northwestern University's Feinberg School of Medicine since 2005. This American scholar of Chinese descent is a renowned expert in RNA splicing biology. Her research field is post-transcriptional gene regulation and its involvement in human pathogenesis.

The NIH official website shows that Wu's last NIH-funded project, "The Role of Mitochondria in TDP-43 Proteinopathy," received a total of $3.03 million in funding, starting in 2018 and ending in 2022.

The NIH is the main institution supported by the U.S. government for biomedical and public health research and is also the main source of funding for Wu's long-term research at Northwestern University. Since the "China Initiative" was launched by the Trump administration in 2018, the NIH has begun to investigate scientists it funds for "undeclared Chinese connections." Although the "China Initiative" ended in 2022, the NIH's investigations have not ceased. As of June 9 this year, the NIH has determined that more than 250 scientists (mostly Asian) have failed to disclose research work that overlaps with Chinese and NIH funding, and 112 scholars have lost their jobs as a result.

A month after Wu's death, NIH Director Monica Bertagnolli issued a statement formally acknowledging that the "foreign relationship disclosure investigation" against Asian scientists, especially Chinese scholars, conducted by the NIH over the past six years has caused anxiety in the academic community. The statement said that the above actions "have had unintended consequences, creating a difficult atmosphere for our Asian colleagues who may feel targeted and alienated"; the NIH promises to provide researchers with research safety training, update decision-making and funding disclosure forms, and work with American universities and academic organizations to take action to repair relations. However, Bertagnolli still refused to admit in an interview with Science that "NIH wrongly targeted Asian scholars."

It is reported that Peter Zeidenberg, who previously served as a lawyer for Xi Xiaoxing, former chairman of the physics department at Temple University, and Tao Feng, a professor at the University of Kansas, also consulted with Wu on legal issues. However, after six years of legal proceedings, Xi Xiaoxing won the opportunity to appeal in 2023; Tao Feng, the first case of the "China Initiative," overturned all charges on July 15 of this year and will continue to fight for the restoration of his position at the University of Kansas. Wu, however, did not survive this "ordeal" and became the only Chinese scientist who committed suicide after being investigated under the "China Initiative."

Xue Haipei, president of the largest Chinese-American alliance, the "United Chinese Americans," said that Wu's death is the "tragic end of the now abolished 'China Initiative'," and "it once again shows that the plan has brought an unbearable life cost to many innocent Chinese-American scientists."