WASHINGTON ― Three House committee chairmen are investigating the University of Michigan's oversight of researchers from China who are accused of smuggling a potentially devastating plant fungus into the United States.

Michigan U.S. Reps. John Moolenaar and Tim Walberg, chairmen of the House Select Committee on China and the House Committee on Education and the Workforce, respectively, wrote to UM recently, saying they were "deeply alarmed" by the reports and criminal charges involving the Chinese nationals who allegedly intended to use the biological materials at UM laboratories.

The committees found that UM scholar Yunqing Jian, 33, and her boyfriend, 34-year-old Zunyong Liu, were conducting research at a university lab under UM professors funded by the National Institutes of Health and the National Science Foundation.

Those professors, Ping He and Libo Shan, have received approximately $9.6 million in federal research funding, according to the letter.

"It is our position that Chinese researchers tied to the (People's Republic of China) defense research and industrial base have no business participating in U.S. taxpayer-funded research with clear national security implications — especially those related to dangerous biological materials," the lawmakers wrote.

They're asking the university to respond to two dozen questions and produce documents regarding its oversight, compliance practices, and any internal reviews and due diligence related to the faculty and researchers involved, including what steps UM is taking to ensure fundamental research at the university isn't being used to create bioweapons.

The House lawmakers are also urging the National Institute of Health and the National Science Foundation to review the grants awarded to the two UM professors.

Republican U.S. Rep. Brian Babin, chairman of the House Committee on Science, Space and Technology, also signed onto the letter, as well as U.S. Rep. Virginia Foxx, R-N.C., who previously chaired the House education panel.

Asked about the June 18 letter from Congress, UM's Kay Jarvis, director of public affairs, said UM "condemns" any actions that violate federal law, threaten national security or otherwise undermine the university’s critical public mission.

"We will continue to cooperate with federal law enforcement in its ongoing investigation and prosecution. We are working to answer the questions raised in the letter from members of Congress," Jarvis said in a statement.

"And we will continue to take institution-wide actions to ensure that our vital research enterprise complies with both university policy and federal law."

Liu and Jian worked together at the UM lab until April 2024, when Liu returned to China.

Jian allegedly tried to bring Fusarium graminearum into the U.S., which federal prosecutors allege could be used as a potential agricultural terrorism weapon to target food crops. The fungus is a biological pathogen that can cause devastating diseases in crops.

Jian is a citizen of China who received a doctorate degree in plant pathogens from Zhejiang University, and investigators said they have discovered information describing her membership in and loyalty to the Chinese Communist Party.

Prosecutors said she received money from a Chinese foundation funded largely by the Chinese government to conduct postdoctoral work, including research on Fusarium graminearum.

Prosecutors said her boyfriend, Liu, illegally smuggled a biological pathogen into the U.S. at the Detroit Metropolitan Airport on July 27. Before preventing Liu from entering the U.S. and sending him back to China, investigators searched the man’s iPhones.

One contained an article titled “2018 Plant-Pathogen Warfare under Changing Climate Conditions,” an FBI agent wrote. The article describes how Fusarium graminearum is an example of a destructive disease and pathogen for crops.

Jian and her boyfriend are charged with several crimes, including conspiracy to defraud the U.S., smuggling, making false statements to investigators and visa fraud. The smuggling charge carries the stiffest penalty — up to 20 years in federal prison.

Moolenaar in an interview noted there's been a series of incidents involving Chinese students and the University of Michigan that have made headlines in recent months — from a student is accused of voting illegally in last fall's election to five UM graduates who were charged in federal court after trespassing onto Camp Grayling with cameras near military equipment.

"This situation with the researchers is simply the most recent, and I think it's important to understand at what level of the university these decisions were being made and and how we can ensure that the research activity at the University of Michigan does not support the interests of the Chinese Communist Party," Moolenaar said.

"We want to help all of our universities have better research security, and that's the ultimate goal."

(Staff writer Robert Snell contributed to this report.)

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