There are a multitude of reports about threats from China. Artificial intelligence, rare earth minerals, military weaponry, trade, Taiwan and much more.
But for a University of Wyoming researcher who has been working on a cancer treatment, it has gotten personal.
A Chinese national has been accused of poisoning a microbiology researcher colleague there, and was under arrest after being caught at the Los Angeles airport trying to flee to China.
Aili Wang, 32, is charged in Laramie Circuit Court with one count of aggravated assault, which is punishable by up to 10 years in prison and $10,000 in fines.
Details come from an affidavit from University of Wyoming Police Department detective Kiernan A. Quinonez.
The researcher, with pending patents, was working on new tech to address cancer as well as neurological and genetic diseases.
Strange symptoms started appearing for him in August, according to the Cowboy State Daily.
The alleged target, “KT,” had tingling and numbness and more and investigators found that water taken from his coffee maker on campus revealed elevated levels of acrylamide, a neurotoxin.
Water taken from other nearby points did not have that, the report said.
A Wyoming microbiology graduate student from China has been arrested on accusations she poisoned the tea of a colleague who had pending patents and with whom she didn’t get along, then tried to flee the country after police questioned her. https://t.co/qNsYLQXKVg
— CBS News (@CBSNews) October 14, 2026
Wyoming grad student accused of poisoning a colleague, arrested fleeing to China https://t.co/clPkHpxcT0 https://t.co/Xo7Ah3NLIX
— New York Post (@nypost) October 14, 2026
Wang, who was known not to get along with KT, eventually was identified as a suspect, and card-swipe entry records showed Wang accessing the facility sometimes late at night, and video camera footage showed Wang inspecting KT’s coffee tin and “looking into KT’s coffee maker.”
Police affidavits also confirm that Wang’s school online account was used to order acrylamide, twice.
Albany County Deputy Attorney Jennifer Curran charged Wang with the felony Oct. 6.
Laramie Circuit Court Judge Robert Sanford initially issued a warrant for her arrest with a $200,000 bond attached to it.
But then she was stopped at LA’s airport, prosecutors confirmed in a request to raise that bond to $15 million cash.
UW said in a statement, “The university takes matters involving the health and safety of the campus community seriously and remains committed to providing a safe and secure environment for students, faculty, staff and visitors.”
