A Russian Harvard University Medical School researcher held in U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement custody since February has been arrested and charged with smuggling biological material into the United States.

Kseniia Petrova, a Russian-born scientist and researcher at Harvard University, was charged on Wednesday with one criminal count of smuggling goods into the country. The criminal charge represents an escalation by the Trump administration in a case that has drawn international scrutiny from academics and scientists throughout the world.

Harvard researcher in ICE custody charged with smuggling frog embryos into Boston; Massachusetts U.S. Attorney criticizes The New York Times for allowing her opinion piece