scientist convicted of stealing research

[nifer]

Scientist convicted of stealing research

Maximum penalty: 15 years in prison and $500,000 fine

SYRACUSE, New York (AP) --A Cornell University researcher from China has been convicted of stealing biological materials used in a university research project and trying to smuggle them to his home country.

A federal jury on Friday found Yin Qingqiang, 38, guilty of theft of property worth more than $5,000 and making a false statement to an FBI agent.

Yin, a former postdoctoral research associate at Cornell, was arrested July 28 at Syracuse Hancock International Airport after security officers found more than 250 vials, test tubes and petri dishes hidden in his luggage as he and his family tried to board a flight to Shanghai.

Prosecutors contended he stole bacteria and yeast cultures for making an enzyme known as phytase, a livestock feed supplement that scientists think will improve livestock nutrition and reduce phosphorous excretion in animal waste. His goal, they said, was to secure a research job in China.

Yin has said the materials belonged to him and that Cornell officials never told him he couldn't take them when he left the university. He wasn't rehired as a research assistant because of poor job performance, according to the university.

Yin and his lawyer, Nathaniel Hsieu, left court Friday without comment. He faces a maximum penalty of 15 years in prison and a $500,000 fine at sentencing April 15.

Although still in development, Cornell researchers have two patents pending on the research and say the enzyme could eventually be worth millions of dollars.

Lab director Xingen Lei testified Thursday that Yin was paid $24,000 to help assist Cornell scientists in the development of the enzyme. Lei noted that every researcher hired by Cornell must sign a patent waiver, acknowledging that all research work and material are university property. The contract signed by Yin was entered as evidence.