Harvard scientist key to cancer detection microscope detained by US immigration agency

Harvard scientist Kseniia Petrova (right) is being detained at the US Immigration and Customs Enforcement Richwood Correctional Center in Louisiana (left) (Pictures: AP)

A Harvard Medical School scientist working on a ground breaking cancer detection microscope has been detained by US immigration officers and faces possible deportation to Russia.

Kseniia Petrova, 30, of Russia, was arrested at Boston Logan International Airport in mid-February and is being held at the US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) Richwood 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 (formerly Twitter) that Petrova ‘was lawfully detained after lying to federal officers about carrying substances into the country’.

The US Immigration and Customs Enforcement Richwood Correctional Center in Louisiana (Picture: AP)

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.

The scientist was working on a cancer detection microscope at Harvard Medical School (Picture: Shutterstock)

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.

She likened the detention center to a ‘grinding machine’.

Kseniia Petrova is a bioinformatician at Harvard Medical School’s Kirschner Lab

‘We are in this machine, and it doesn’t care if you have a visa, a green card, or any particular story,’ Petrova told the news outlet. ‘It just keeps going.’

Petrova’s manager and mentor, Dr Leon Peshkin of Harvard’s Department of Systems Biology, told NBC News that her case is among those that instills concern among international researchers considering working in the US.

The Trump administration’s tough stance on illegal immigration has interfered with American universities’ efforts to retain talent, according to experts.

Kseniia Petrova was working at Harvard Medical School before being detained at a Boston airport (Picture: Shutterstock)

Meanwhile, President Donald Trump’s feud with Harvard escalated on Tuesday as the Ivy League university sued the administration to try to block the government from freezing funding to it.

The Trump administration has framed its fight against Harvard and other universities where protests against Israel’s war on Gaza have unraveled, as aimed at stopping antisemitism.

Petrova’s immigration court hearing for her asylum case is scheduled for May 7 in Jena.

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